


legend of maia: the twilight prince

by thesorrowoflizards



Series: sh legend of zelda not!fics [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: (thats a joke) - Freeform, All Your Faves Are Trans, Alternate Universe - Twilight Princess Fusion, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Maia Roberts, BAMF Raphael Santiago, Body Dysphoria, Cant believe i forgot those tags, F/F, F/M, Gen, Good Alpha Maia, Guard Alec Lightwood, Hero Maia Roberts, Hurt Magnus Bane, Hurt Maia Roberts, Hurt Raphael Santiago, Hurt/Comfort, Knight Alec Lightwood, LGBTQ Themes, Legend of Zelda AU, M/M, Maia is a hero and we love her, Manipulative Camille Belcourt, Multi, Noble Alec Lightwood, Prince Magnus Bane, Queer Themes, Reluctant Allies to Friends to Significant Others, Reluctant Allies to Friends to... Lovers? Is it Lovers if it's not Sexy, Slow Burn, The Triforce, Themes of Transformation/Transition, Touch-Starved, Trans Bat Velasquez. specifically nb, Trans Maia Roberts, Trans Raphael Santiago, Werewolves are Trans Pass It On!, Wolf Maia Roberts, Zelda!Magnus, all my mains are touch starved lonely queer trans ppl and we stan, also a minor bit of..., also pretty minor but Trans Simon Lewis, also some non explicit consensual sexy content for malec, and Trans Magnus Bane, and clary but like. shes not a main or a fave here., and raphael gets the triforce of common sense and sass, and then the others after, but that would be confusing in this context so shut up, but that's not really mentioned much. they're canon tho, camille w/ the triforce of power..., except alec, i KNOW since magnus is zelda it should be legend of magnus, i love how i really went like 'everyone even kinda important is trans except clary and alec', i yeeted ganondorf for this im sorry, link!maia, lowkey like, magnus w/ the triforce of wisdom.., maia w/ the triforce of courage..., mentions of abuse, mentions of nb meliorn, mentions of rapey behavior from Camille in ch 4, midna!raphael, not totally applicable but the vibe is there, ok again this is super minor but catarina? also trans babey!, prince raphael santiago, sorry Alec, the story evolves as i kept going so like if you read the long chapter, they build on it and change parts of it, this started as a joke about maia liking twilight princess best bc its about turning into a wolf, wolf transformation, zant/ganondorf!camille
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:42:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25331875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesorrowoflizards/pseuds/thesorrowoflizards
Summary: Maia was just a farmhand with a simple life. Watching over the village kids, fishing, herding the goats.Then one of those kids is kidnapped, and she's quite literally pulled into a world of twilight, and a new adventure.Trapped in a new form as a great wolf, she meets a shadowy imp and a lonely prince... and she must fight her way across Hyrule on a quest where two worlds hang in the balance.Not a fic! A meta/essay/blob of an idea! Chapters can mostly be read in any order.
Relationships: (like Epona and the village kids), (past and in an abusive way), Catarina Loss & Madzie Loss, Catarina Loss/Telma (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), Eventually - Relationship, Magnus Bane & Raphael Santiago, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Camille Belcourt, Maia & Luke but pretty minor, Maia & Simon (also minor), Maia Roberts & Bat Velasquez, Maia Roberts & Various Zelda Characters, Maia Roberts/Raphael Santiago, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Raphael Santiago & Camlle Belcourt, Raphael Santiago/Maia Roberts/Simon Lewis, Sort of Clary Fray/Maia Roberts (past), i dont want to tag this Rosa & Raphael bc it's barely there but like it is there a little bit, im overtagging bc im trying to keep track of it all, more focus on maiaphael but saiaphael gets rights too, otherwise known as the most rarepair rarepair to ever rarepair, very minor isabelle lightwood/meliorn
Series: sh legend of zelda not!fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833079
Comments: 16
Kudos: 6
Collections: Valid Trans Magnus Fics (With a Focus on Spicy)





	1. Themes I'm Excited About + Characters and Relationships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tothetrashwhereibelong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tothetrashwhereibelong/gifts).



> wrote this while listening to midna's lament and crying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some themes I'm going for, plus character list, how I sort of like... dealt with their zelda counterparts, and then some of the relationships and changes from the game's canonical ones.
> 
> (This will probably make more sense with the big plot thing but might give you a basic overview to start with? Feel free to read the chapters in whatever order you choose. Although 3 probably shouldn't go first.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh lord you can really tell i wrote most of this before that big plot summary. mayhaps i really should put that chapter last,  
> OKAY I MOVED IT CHAPTER ONE IS DIFFERENT NOW ENJOY.  
> 
> 
> also WHY does the chapter title keep changing back WHY

**Themes and Ideas I’m Excited About.**

Mostly I’d like to talk about themes of transformation, accepting yourself, and issues with body, consent, control, and acceptance.

Maia at first feels trapped as a wolf, forced into a form that doesn’t feel like her own. But as she gains the ability to control it, and uses it to help her friends, fight monsters, and see the world in new ways, she begins to appreciate it. First as an asset, something she can use and control instead of fear, and then something that can actually be kind of freeing.

The wolf form does belong to her—she wasn’t transformed by malicious forces, but instead saved the fate of becoming a spirit as other humans were, due to her status as the Hero.

So taking back that control really helps, and yes this is definitely tangled up in themes on being trans why do you ask?

I probably won’t focus too explicitly on this as I’m transmasculine, not transfeminine, and I don’t think I can really do the topic justice so much? Like I don’t want to speak for transfemme people here. But Maia is def trans in this AU.

And personally, the whole “werewolf” and transformation thing, fighting back for that control and ownership of your body and how it looks—through transitioning, accepting your body as it is, or a mixture of both—can be really relatable and empowering? I’m not sure I can put it super well into words, but it’s tangled up in there, you know

But like anyway as a wolf it’s not all fighting and blood. Maia can also smell and see new things she couldn’t before, and communicate with animals (including her beloved horse!!! who recognizes her and talks to her!!). It can be fun, exhilarating, running fast and seeing and experiencing new things.

But it’s also a source of pain—people she loves don’t recognize her and cower in fear, or try to drive her back with weapons. She can’t go into populated areas anymore as she’ll be driven away. Near people, she must sneak anywhere she goes.

Raphael helps her gain that control, as well as being her constant companion throughout her quest. While he starts off snarky and nonchalant and pretending like he doesn’t care, bargaining for her help without telling her what he knows, they grow closer and he slowly starts to trust her, too.

He has his reasons for being prickly and closed off, and it’s a big deal when he eventually lets her in and opens up.

So they end up supporting each other: Maia helps him regain his lost throne to help his people, as well as save his friend the prince of Hyrule, supporting him in his own lonely position as a cursed twilight creature in the light, while Raphael helps her control her wolf form and gives her powers to defeat the monsters around them and stuff.

And that friendship grows throughout their long quest.

Notably, these themes of transformation and a body that isn’t yours could also apply to Raphael, if we go the same route as Midna being cursed into an imp form, or even being stuck as a shadow with little tangible influence.

Raphael is also trans, because I said so. Magnus and Raphael and Maia are all trans. This is canon. No one can stop me.

Also... themes of loneliness. All three of my main characters (Mostly Maia and Raphael, but also Magnus) are lonely, isolated, scared. They've all been hurt, they all crave affection and love, they've all lost their homes. They feel like they've failed. They're stuck in that melancholy twilight, with their regrets, with their failures, their isolation.

But like the twili, they find warmth in other people--in each other, in the village kids, in Alec and Simon and Renado and Telma. 

_Twilight Princess_ is very much about hope in dark times, I think. And that really fits them. They're all going through so much pain, and yet... they're finding hope in each other, in other people. And through that hope, they prevail.

**Characters**

_Maia_ _as Link, Hero of Twilight._

Look. Honestly, I’d really love to see Maia as Princess Zelda. She’d look so beautiful in a Zelda dress and like??? let her have divine power and wisdom tbh???

But in this case… well, it started out as a joke. “I bet I can make a connection from Legend of Zelda to Shadowhunters.” A friend suggested Maiaphael. “I bet I can make a connection from Legend of Zelda to Maiaphael,” I said. And then, jokingly, I said “Haha, Maia relates to Twilight Princess Link because he can turn into a wolf.” And then I thought about it. And then I thought about it some more.

“Hm.” I said.

Now, a lot of this I’m relating from her to TP!Link is entirely speculation. Link is, as always, mostly a sort of empty shell. He has some personality, and obviously connections to Ilia and the village kids and Rusl. But we don’t necessarily know how he feels about everything that happens in the game.

But I thought about it. Maia as a girl leading a simple life. A farmhand, teaching the local kids games, fishing, minding her own business… when she’s plucked from that normal life, transformed into a wolf, and left to fight the darkness.

Like Link, Maia struggling in this new form, feeling lost in this new dark world and body she didn’t ask for, but over time, using it to progress when she couldn’t have before, using it to defend herself when she couldn’t have before (I had considered adding Jordan as backstory, here, but not in great detail—it would have been pre-canon, though). So being a wolf becomes an asset. A tool.

But like... I feel like over time, Link could learn to appreciate his wolf form. I know playing the game I like to run around as a wolf, and actually _being_ one is certainly the dream of… a lot of people. Hm.

But anyway, seriously. New senses, being able to dig and bite, being able to leap long gaps and have a TAIL and TALK TO ANIMALS oh my god one of the cutest things in Twilight Princess is when Link can talk to Epona and Epona _recognizes him._ And talks to him.

Imagine Maia learning to have fun in her wolf form!!!! Even in dark times finding things that are silly and fun!! Basically[ THIS ENTIRE POST](https://tothetrashwhereibelong.tumblr.com/post/616312682161782784/obsessed-with-maia-just-allowing-herself-to-be) by @tothetrashwhereibelong basically emphasizes it perfectly. (used with their permission.) 

OBSESSED with Maia just allowing herself to be silly in her wolf form. after the whole Jordan thing i think that being able to reclaim her wolf form as a part of herself, not something that was inflicted upon her, not something that she needs to fight, but really that she learns to love, is so important for her closure. maia as a wolf chasing after her own tail for fun. maia as a wolf rolling on the grass. maia as a wolf being showered (because you know, she needs to take care of her wolf form too, make sure it’s clean and happy and well cared for, not abandoned or left) and doing the BRRRRR thing to dry herself, then looking way too pleased when everyone else is soaked through. maia as a wolf jumping over an unsuspecting Raphael and licking his face until he can’t stop giggling. Maia as a wolf with her paws on Raphael’s shoulder, being petted and with her tail wagging wildly, almost hitting Simon fully in the face. maia as a wolf stealing people’s food, becoming friends with other, tiny dogs and absolutely terrifying their owners. maia as a wolf pretending to be scared of an angry chihuahua just for their entertainment. maia swimming as a wolf…. maia as a

Also this could really help her growing relationship with Raphael tbh. The first time she makes Raphael laugh by like, coming out of a river and shaking off in that BRRRRRR thing (aaaaa!!!!!!!!! The image is so cute and she looks so fluffy afterwards and I’m picturing Raphael like, looks kinda -_- for a moment, then flicks the water off with one hand, then fucking bursts out laughing bc he can’t hold it anymore LDKGJDLFKGJ GOD)

Not to mention eventually!! She can shift whenever she wants!!!! Oh my god!!! YES!!!!

And obviously there are downsides to being a wolf. It’s not all fighting, nor is it just fun and games. There’s a really big contrast between wolf form and human form in the game (other than the obvious different appearance and abilities). This comes out both in how you are treated (with friendliness versus with fear and anger) and how helpless being a wolf can feel (with the lack of ability to communicate as well as… well, no opposable thumbs).

This comes out strongest in the infamous “Midna’s Lament” scene, where you carry Midna’s limp body to safety as she is seemingly dying or dead, and you are unable to help her or get help from anyone. You have to carry her, slumped on your back, to the prince. You feel totally helpless, listening to her labored breathing and the sad piano of Midna’s Lament.

But we’ll get to that later.

_Raphael as Midna, The Twilight Prince._

Okay, I admit, I have no idea how I would handle the whole “cursed to be a tiny floating imp” thing. Chibi Raphael, perhaps? I _was_ going to go with some sort of like… he’s just a shadowy mostly intangible figure, maybe with the same glowing green runes/swirls on his arms and such, but not literally a tiny imp. But also I’m not gonna lie the image of him riding Maia in wolf form is very cute and funny.

But moving on from that. Raphael is the rightful heir to the twilight realm, ruler of the people there. But then Camille came, someone who’d been working under the royal family for generations and was tired of waiting for power. So she launched a coup, corrupting twili into beasts to do her bidding, and using her slowly gaining power to begin overthrowing Raphael… and sliding into the living world, to manipulate a certain prince into allowing entrance.

But anyway. After Raphael is overthrown and cast out, cursed into his current form, he decides he must collect the fused shadows—of which he already has one—and use them to match her power, and regain the throne. She’s hurting his people, and she’ll be hurting this world, too, and he can’t let it happen.

But he doesn’t trust anyone except maybe Magnus, especially not the strange human girl he’d just met, turned into a wolf.

So he acts nonchalant and careless, pretends he doesn’t care and that he wasn’t attached, telling her he’d only help her recapture her friends (they were only _children,_ and he wanted to help anyway, but he didn’t have time, and he _needed_ her help, someone who could _fight--)_ if she helped him gather what she needed.

He had to help save two worlds, after all, so what if he was a little rude?

The characterization of an outwardly acerbic character that deeply cares about their people and is fighting hard to free them from an oppressive leader really works for Raphael, I think.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s also worth nothing the same issues Maia may struggle with in her wolf form, Raphael may struggle with in his “imp” form or shadow form, depending on what we went with. This could relate back to him being trans, because he is, or how he’s a vampire in canon and how that changed his life.

_Magnus as Zelda, the Prince of Hyrule._

When Camille came to the castle, threatening the lives of his guards and of the whole of the kingdom, wielding power Magnus knew he couldn’t match alone, he made a tough call: surrender, and live long enough to plan a revolution, rather than die there and have his people die, too.

But he blames himself for the invasion, both for being manipulated by someone he thought loved him, and for giving up. He sees this as his failure.

He sees people he loves suffering—Alexander, his personal guard now forced to serve a cruel queen, still allowed to guard him but they can no longer speak freely. Raphael, his poor dear friend, now trapped in another form and on a quest to free the land, and Magnus can’t help him.

He holds the triforce of wisdom and puts his people before himself, but Camille exploited his weakness: his kindness and willingness to love.

While it’s not a focus of the story, he does have Alexander as a new love interest, who’s there for him through thick and thin and comforts him when he can. Obviously they’re not just magically healed and together, but over time…. :)

Also, fun fact: it’s canon that Twilight Princess!Zelda was about to be crowned queen. The sword Link was supposed to deliver was likely a coronation gift or involved in the crowning ceremony. So Magnus was about to be king, and was the sole ruler of Hyrule when all this went down.

_Camille as Zant, the Twilight Usurper, and Ganondorf._

Camille is manipulative and cruel and power hungry. I have combined Zant (usurper of the throne, with connections to Raphael and overthrowing his kingdom—much like how in canon she is the head of the clan despite being a terrible person and leader) with Ganondorf (the much scarier villain, holder of the triforce of power, with connections to Magnus and the scene where she literally controls him).

She used her power and manipulation to gather the twili (people of the twilight) to her side and revolt against the royal family (Raphael). Her corrupted servants became the shadow beasts Maia later has to fight.

She also managed to slip into the world of the light and manipulate Magnus, the prince of Hyrule, into allowing them entrance. Or maybe he visited the twilight world to talk to Raphael, and met her there, and… well, the rest is history. (This is not from the game, I’m just a slut for Camille angst.)

Also, with Magnus already having been a close friend with the prince of the twilight, he would have no reason to necessarily think twilight or the people/creatures from there were bad (not that they are, but you know).

I’m a little iffy on this, because I don’t want to imply here Magnus is dumb or easily manipulated. The point is supposed to be he’s a kind person, and she took advantage of that to worm her way into our world. Magnus blames himself for trusting her, but anyone could have fallen for her tricks. She’s a master of lies and twisting words.

She hurt him, and betrayed him, and even if she hadn’t usurped the twilight throne and become a fucking dictator bent on ruling two worlds in eternal shadow, Raphael still would have hated her for that alone.

(I did consider Jordan as Zant—overthrower, monster to Maia, but ultimately an empty puppet to someone far worse—but Zant’s primary connection is to Midna/Raphael, so I decided against it.)

_Alec as Palace Guard lmao_

Alec’s a palace guard, and has been for a while now. He’s been close to the prince for years, too, but they were always kind of separated by their station. I’m assuming he didn’t know about Camille, or felt it wasn’t his place to interject even if she gave off bad vibes. (I picture she visited in the dark, though, at night, when no one else saw.)

But in those dark times when Camille ruled the castle and Alec guarded his door (I’m assuming here despite the fact he would have no reason to really guard Magnus’s door as what kind of usurper would lead the prince’s own guards to guard him, the point is that it doesn’t matter. Neither of them can escape the twilight anyway, neither of them can leave the castle, so it’s follow orders of be thrown into the dungeon. It’s almost a dominance thing, like go ahead, guard your little prince, make sure he doesn’t escape, even though it’s of course pointless and practically daring them to try and escape, knowing that they can’t.) like… they could talk quietly through the door, when the true guards did their rounds (or no guards at all?) or some days—or nights, as days no longer came—Alec could slip into his room and they could talk, and Alec could hold him close when he cried,,,, like they could talk about their feelings!! And just….. aaaaaa

**Relationships.**

_Maia_ _and Raphael – Changes from Midna and Link’s Dynamic; Developing Romance_

Okay, I’m definitely changing the early dynamic here, because having Raphael be like “you’re my servant now, you follow my every order, haha good boy!” to Maia is…….. _not_ happening. No. No way. While I don’t hate it in the context of the game for the game’s characters, that’s very uncomfortable with Maiaphael.

While Raphael does have a sort of grumpy attitude along with a “follow my lead if you want my help getting your friends back” kind of attitude, it’s a lot less demanding and for the lack of a better word, mean. I love Midna, but girl. Not cool.

Raphael has a much more toned down outlook here. At the beginning of the story, he doesn’t trust Maia, but he needs someone tangible in both worlds to be able to help him retrieve the Fused Shadows and overthrow Camille. All the better that she’s the chosen hero (and by the time he learns this, he’s decided she’s useful and/or potentially trustworthy enough to be helpful) because this shit needs done, for both of their worlds’ sake.

He has no intentions of hurting her or using her in the sense of using her like an object and throwing her away afterwards. It’s true he wants to use her abilities to help his people and by extension hers, but not like, in a gross way, you know what I mean?

But as time goes on, the snark and grumpiness wears away as Raphael sort of begins to trust her more. They get to know each other on their long journey, travelling to far away mountains and volcanoes and twilit forests, destroying monsters and returning light to the land.

Maia also grows to trust Raphael, regarding him with less suspicion and reluctant trust and more friendship.

It grows in large moments—defeating monsters, uniting the yeti with his wife, carrying Raphael to safety—and small. Maia sneezing as a wolf for the first time and being Very Surprised. Maia realizing she wags her tail when she’s happy and perhaps proceeding to chase it (mostly because it’s making Raphael laugh so hard he’s almost snorting and it’s adorable and she might be exaggerating just to see if he’ll actually do it). Raphael doing shadow puppets, either because he’s bored while she’s doing something else, and then she notices and is unable to hide a smile, or like, he’s just having fun with it to entertain some kids or even just tell a story late when they’re camping. Sharing a meal together after a long night even though Raphael doesn’t really need to eat like this. Maybe even talking about their families.

They go from reluctant allies to friends… as evidenced by scenes such as Midna’s Lament (I can’t wait to talk about that one.)

And eventually… romance may or may not blossom ;)

(It will.)

This is a little weird for me as I don’t ship Midna/Link at all, but I feel like Maiaphael works super well in this AU.

Rather than shattering the Mirror of Twilight—or perhaps that still happens, but as some people have theorized, there are other ways in—there is left a passage from world to another, so Raphael can still see Maia and Magnus.

Maia’s quest is over, heroic destiny completed. She can go back to her village—but does she want to? I mean I doubt she wants to literally never go back, never see Luke and the kids again, but like… she just went on this crazy world changing adventure. She and Raphael bonded and it felt like finally being close to someone her age (we’re not gonna hit on whether twili age the same as Hylians okay—hey wait if Maia’s a hylian does she get pointed ears? AND MAGNUS TOO? They’d look so pretty omg—) rather than like… all these adults and kids younger than her, you know?

So not only that, but also, again. She’s just been on a life changing journey. She’s become a hero. She’s got an arsenal of weapons and tools. She’s saved lives, stopped monsters, toppled kings (queen?). And yet. Can she really just go back to her simple village life? It’d be peaceful, but would she be restless? Bored? Would it ever be the same? Especially without Raphael?

Can she really just like go and be a farmhand again, albeit a traumatized one??? Like?? Idk. That’s the problem of heroes. Some find peace in being able to put down their weapons forever, others are restless after such a life changing quests making them into someone who can’t just sit around.

Magnus is to be crowned king (as is Raphael, likely). ~~Magnus and Alec can get together :)~~

So like… let Maia and Raphael visit each other!!! Let them know each other in peacetime too and build a better relationship between their worlds!!! (Magnus and Raphael, too, but. You know.)

I’m not entirely sure how to smoothly go from friendship to romance here but we might get to that in the play-by-plays.

And god like… just… at some point, later on… they’re both like… They trust each other enough to be vulnerable, and like. Maia appreciates not having to be The Strong Hero™ all the time (cuddles??? CUDDLES???) and Raphael isn’t like A Prince™ either you know??? And they talk about their fears and insecurities????? AAAAAAAAA

_Maia and the Villagers (The Children as well as Luke)_

Honestly, this is more about Maia then these other characters. They kind of represent her relationship with the pack in canon, albeit less equal and more protective. But she’s like a great alpha, so here, she’s the oldest “kid” and the one the others all look up to. She takes care of them, teaches them shit like how to use a slingshot, and plays games with them. She’s kind of in that coming of age story place, in a way, which fits with themes of transition and transformation nicely.

But like, they look up to her. She’s kind, protective, strong, but not like… perfect. I mean, no one is, but she’s not expected to be, either. This isn’t like a “Maia takes care of everyone” situation so much as she’s well-liked and protective of her little pack.

Luke plays the role of Link’s mentor, Rusl. He taught Maia swordsmanship, and generally acts as an almost father figure. He’s got a pretty minor role, but he cares for Maia and the kids deeply. (One of the kids is actually supposed to be his son, but the only way to make that work specifically with canon is to make it Simon or Clary who… technically don’t currently have a role, but it feels weird to make them kids when they’re both people I’ve shipped with Maia lmao.)

Clary and Maia... well I ended up deciding on Clary as Ilia. They were lowkey childhood sweethearts, but like, not actually a thing. Clary was a little younger (not like drastically, but you know when you get old enough to feel like the kids you were friends with once who were younger than you are... well, kids now? That awkward age? It's kinda like that) and like... even though they're not like that anymore, they're still close friends. Clary losing her memory lowkey broke Maia's heart.

_Raphael and Magnus – Friendship Between Princes_

This is very different from the game, simply because I fucking said so. Also because when I thought of this AU I was remembering their dynamic from the late game and forgot Midna didn’t like Zelda at first and I thought “oooooh triforce of wisdom prince magnus and his twilight friend prince raphael??? yes please”.

Less of that sh canon dynamic of almost father/son, but they’re still friends and Magnus lowkey sees him as a little brother I think.

They have a lot of mutual respect, and care for each other deeply. This makes Magnus’s sacrifice to keep Raphael safe all the more heartbreaking… and also that moment at the end of the game, where Zelda is mind controlled by Ganon and it’s creepy as fuck?

A million times more scary and heartbreaking when it’s Magnus, floating like a limp puppet, skin unhealthy pale and eyes glowing as Camille forces him to fight with dark magic, and Raphael has to fight his oldest friend.

Also I thought Zelda magically being fine was kind of a cop-out in the game… but fuck this, Magnus is magically fine!

Also!!!! They’re both trans princes who are loyal and love their people!!!!! Icons!!!

_Magnus and Alec – Self Indulgent Adding Shit For Fun_

I literally added this because I can’t resist adding Malec to everything. Magnus deserves to be loved!!!

So the prince has a personal guard, Alexander, who sticks by his side throughout the invasion, perhaps even lets Maia and Raphael slip by on purpose.

There isn’t much to say here, I just love the idea of this sort of dystopian oh shit Hyrule, and Magnus is the cloaked prince prisoner in his own castle, sealed away because of his own “foolishness” at being manipulated by Camille, and then there’s his personal guard there to help him, hold him,,,,,,,, comfort him,,,,,,, and he is devastated when Magnus “dies”, and when Magnus is controlled in such an awful way by Camille.

IDK man I’m just very emo about prince Magnus trying so hard to be put together and dignified and strong and stoic, and it’s working, really, he’s refusing to show any weakness to Camille, to the people around him.

(It occurs to me the castle was swallowed in twilight and the guards were all spirits… but Zelda was still human? I realize her triforce would have protected her but like, why didn’t she become some sort of “beast” like Link did? And how do I fudge this so Alec can be human, too? Maybe Zant/Camille specifically made this happen as a taunt, I don’t fucking know. Like if they leave a certain area they enter the twilight hence the whole guards thing. Fuck, I don’t know.)

Anyway, he’s keeping his dignity and strength in defeat, but like, it’s so hard when there’s all this pain and trauma tangled up in his emotions you know and when he does break down in private, Alec’s there to offer comfort. He’s not disgusted with perceived weaknesses, nor does he pity Magnus. He just understands.

Look I’m a slut for Magnus trying hard to keep it together but letting himself break down in Alec’s arms, okay.

And even here, so soon after Camille, they’re probably only close friends with mutual pining undertones, but it’s still so tender…

_Raphael and Camille – Usurper and Tyrant_

In sh canon Raphael and Camille do not have a good relationship. Obviously. Camille is the leader of the clan, but she is ousted and imprisoned for being a terrible leader and terrible person. Raphael hates her for many reasons—he treatment of his clan, and for her treatment of Magnus, someone he’s very close to.

That basically carries over here. Not only is Camille a tyrant, but she usurped the throne from Raphael, the true heir. She’s got her group of loyalists, corrupted into the shadow beasts Raphael has to help Maia fight (his own people, and he tells himself they turned on him and the others, that they’re too far gone to save, but no doubt still feels guilt for having a hand in their demise), and she’s taken over and is now ruling with an iron fist. She also means to take the world of the light—and while Raphael prefers twilight, his own home, that doesn’t mean he wants the ruin of another.

And then… Camille took advantage of his friend. Used Magnus’s trust—both in general his willingness to trust, and his trust in Raphael that his advisors and people near him would be trustworthy (As Zant was originally someone serving the royal household convinced he would get the throne, it makes sense Camille might be in a similar position—and an evil advisor is tradition!)—to manipulate him and hurt him.

Obviously, Raphael’s people lowkey take priority. But hurting Magnus also makes it even more personal.

There’s probably no one Raphael hates more.

_Magnus and Camille – Manipulation_

I think I mostly talk about this in other parts, but like... just... he trusted her, you know? Maybe he was in a bad place when he met her (like in canon) or maybe he was just so willing to love, always so open and kind, but she took advantage of that.

She's a master manipulator, and just... hurt him so bad. _Especially_ with the whole puppet business, which was so violating and horrifying for him jesus _christ_ there could be a whole side fic just about Magnus (and by extension Malec) in this AU....

_Maia and Epona_

Look, I love Epona. The Bulblins couldn’t control her, and only Maia could calm her down bc she’s only really loyal to Maia, although she’s friendly with the kids (and perhaps she takes a liking to Raphael :)).

And when Maia is like, in wolf form and actually manages to talk to her and Epona _recognizes_ her and is kinda like it’s nice being able to talk but please hurry up and become yourself again soon…

God it was such a cute moment in the game and I just love the idea of Maia loving this horse and the horse loving her?? I don’t even like horses. Epona is the one (1) exception.

_Maia and Colin_

This is again a relationship in the game I just kinda wanna transfer over. This has mostly already been talked about but just like…. y’all…. This sweet child looking up to Maia, wanting to be like her when he grows up… kind and courageous and riding horses lgkjfghfgh

@tothetrashwhereibelong mentioned in the comments that this AMAB kid looking up to a trans woman so hard and wanting to be just like her has major baby trans vibes and honestly YES???? cANON ACCEPTED


	2. Super Long Detailed Plot Overview/Changes From The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot overview shit got long as I basically did it play by play. 
> 
> It might be a little easier to understand if you already know the game--particularly if you've played it. **Hopefully, it should still be fine without that,** but if you want at least a quick overview of the plot, go [here](https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess#Plot) or [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess#:~:text=The%20story%20focuses%20on%20series,a%20mysterious%20creature%20named%20Midna.)
> 
> If you wanna do what I did and consume five and half hours of your life watching the "movie" with every cutscene, boss fight, and dialogue that gives context to the story... go [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Ocpt9uLoA&t=586s). 
> 
> Or play the game. I recommend the HD Remaster on the Wii U, but like, who has one of those anymore? Other than sadly me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna separate this with page breaks by like... sort of topics, or eras i guess? to break it up and make it feel more readable
> 
> (also i admit that I may have gotten pronouns mixed up a few times as with midna and link to raphael and maia, i have to swap and sometimes still think the wrong as im thinking of their zelda counterpart. oops!)

**Overall Plot and Changes from the Game.**

Okay, so let’s sum up the plot of the game in terms of Maiaphael and sh. I’m not gonna through every temple and every boss, so much as overall plot brushes. Or not. Or this will get super detailed. Oh god. Oh god I'm so sorry. 

We begin in Ordon Village, with local farmhand Maia talking to her mentor, Luke. Luke asks her to deliver a sword to royal family in Hyrule, and also kinda ruminates over the nature of twilight and how it’s melancholy and lonely.

She herds some goats, fishes, generally is kinda chill. Maia also interacts with some local kids: they want a slingshot at the local shop, so she scrounges up some money with fishing and odd jobs and the like, and gets it. She teaches them how to use the slingshot, as well as her wooden sword. (This serves as a combat tutorial in the game.)

There’s some shenanigans with a monkey, and the kids acting out, and it’s all pretty normal small town life stuff, really? I mean, not for _us,_ but like, it’s pretty ordinary feeling. Small.

Maia deals with the shenanigans, rescues a kid and a monkey from some monsters and brings them home safely, and all seems to be well. She needs to go get her horse (originally this is a thing with Ilia but…. I’m gonna be real, Ilia creeps me out, and anyway, I don’t know who I would make her anyway. Clary? Not sure. So I’m glossing over her as a character. Sorry, Ilia.) and then she’ll be able to deliver the sword to the royal family as asked.

It’s worth nothing one of the kids asks for (read: demands) her wooden sword, to practice so next time there will be no monkey shenanigans and running off into the woods.

Also, one of the softer and more sensitive children, Colin, told their parents that they’d gone into the woods and gotten them all in trouble. The other children tease him and are made he snitched, but he confides in Maia he doesn’t understand why they like swords and fighting. He also tells her he wants to be just like her when he grows up—and although he has no interest in swords, asks her to teach him how to ride a horse.

I don’t have a sh counterpart for Colin, (I considered Madzie but mmm not sure) but god,,,, Maia bonding with this kid and being like there’s nothing wrong with not liking those things, and of course I’ll teach you to ride a horse,,, aaaaaaaa

Also there’s a brief moment that kind of is a thing later so I’ll mention it even though it seems random—a goat escapes, and Maia stops it by the horns with her bare fucking hands. Again, I cannot emphasize enough Maia is a badass and I adore her.

But anyway. Retrieving the horse from the spring. She talks to whoever the Ilia counterpart is, or the kids, or whatever, and everything seems fine, as calm and slow as ever… and that's where everything goes wrong.

* * *

In sharp contrast to the slow, domestic life of herding goats, keeping kids out of trouble, and fishing, monsters appear and knock Maia unconscious, stealing the kids and opening an ominous dark portal in the sky. This is King Bulblin. He’ll be important later. (I’m not giving him a sh counterpart.)

She wakes up to them all gone. She runs to the ruined gate they trampled through, only to find a huge, shimmering wall of twilight blocking her path. She stares up at it in horror, but before she can turn to run, a huge shadowy hand reaches from it and pulls her forcefully in.

On the other side of the twilight wall, the shadow beast as her by the neck. (If you want canon parallels… perhaps this is where her scars come from in human form?) But then something glowers on her hand—the Triforce of Courage! The light blasts the shadow monster back, and it skitters back in pain as the light envelops her.

She’s in pain, a strange sensation overtaking her—and then…. BAM. She’s transformed into a wolf. The shock of the sudden transformation sends her unconscious, and the shadow beast gingerly drags her off… with a mysterious figure (that would be Raphael) watching.

She wakes up in a mysterious cell, surrounded by flowing water, chained, with a strange figure watching her… Raphael appears!

(Again, no idea how he’d look in this AU because imagining him as a little imp is strange but I mean…. Fuck, idk. Even if he isn’t an imp I’m still kind of picturing those glowing greenish rune-like swirls.)

Raphael breaks the chain and offers to help her figure out what’s going on… if she can escape the cell herself (he effortlessly phases through the bars) and prove herself. So Maia has to think—how can she use her newfound form to her advantage?

So she smashes a box and digs her way out. (I can’t put it to words but again this must be so strange, getting used to this new body, new abilities… She just DUG her way under some bars!!)

He says he’ll help her escape but she has to follow his lead—they escape the dungeon, and when they make it outside and see the castle, Maia realizes where they are… Hyrule Castle, ironically where she’d planned to go under totally different circumstances. Except the castle is overrun with monsters, and the sky is shrouded with twilight. Something has happened. Something is terribly wrong.

Raphael leads her to a tall tower on the crumbling castle, wherein resides a mysterious hooded figure, face hidden.

* * *

Maia is initially hostile—another enemy to fight? Perhaps whoever did this? But the man turns, and Raphael doesn’t react, and something about him… she relaxes.

And the figure recognizes Raphael—calling him by name, and Raphael seems to be on friendly terms with him.

(In the game, Midna is hostile to Zelda and mocks her for giving up. Here, they are closer than Midna and Zelda were, and it’s more Magnus blaming himself and Raphael being like anyone could have fallen for it, we all trusted her, she turned on us and that’s her fault, not yours.)

He explains to Maia what’s going on—that this was once Hyrule Castle, as Maia had suspected, and that Camille had invaded with her stolen dark power and strange beasts, overwhelming Hyrule’s soldiers and threatening to wipe out any who resisted. They had the guards literally by the throat, and Magnus saw no other option but to surrender. Live long enough to plan a revolution rather than die now, letting her murder more of his people.

He blames himself, the prince, for being manipulated by her in the first place, for letting her win, and Raphael tells him it wasn’t his fault, and he throws back his hood—revealing he is, indeed, the prince, which. Again, Maia had suspected, as she’s not stupid, but it’s still like. oh, wow. That’s the prince. Huh

~~Also he’s beautiful :)~~

He recounts what happened then—twilight overtook Hyrule, and the people turned into spirits, ghosts that didn’t know they were ghosts, terrified but not knowing why.

Magnus tells them he can’t help much, and that they’re running out of time, so they have to go. (To add in the bit with guard!Alec—the guard is coming, but Raphael recognizes him as Magnus’s friend and Alec lets them pass, purposefully ignoring them.)

Maia and Raphael escape the castle, returning to the spring where Maia originally was before being pulled in. She’s still stuck as a wolf, though, and Raphael (now her shadow, as she’s back in the world of light) tells her that he’ll help her save the people she wants to save if she helps him get a few things—for now, a sword and shield.

And given that they’re in the twilight and she needs someone from the twilight to pull her back in anyway, she doesn’t have much of a choice.

* * *

So cue lowkey heartbreaking sequence where Maia returns to her village as a wolf to steal the sword and shield, seeing the adults worried sick over the disappearance of the children… and her, as they don’t recognize her. They run in fear when they see her, or attempt to protect each other from her.

They return to the spring after retrieving the sword and shield, and a light spirit in the spring calls to her—but before the spirit can say much, the portal opened earlier spits out a shadow beast, as well as barriers preventing them from running.

She fights the beast—Raphael seems strangely pained by this (seeing one of his people so far gone, even one loyal to Camille hurts) and Maia is… hm, slightly disconcerted with ripping at this thing’s shadowy throat with her teeth.

So then the light spirit emerges, purified, and explains some shit: that the shadow beasts have stolen the light from other springs like this one, and that purifying them will purge the twilight from that infected area. If they do this for the area Maia was originally turned in, she can become herself again.

But a greater quest awaits: this blight will not stop here. It will spread, until the queen of shadows holds domain over the world of the light, and all is consumed by the dark.

To save the land, they must purify all three remaining light springs… and only Maia can do it, as she is the chosen hero, as shown by her wolf form. (Most, when exposed to twilight, become but ghosts. She became a wolf instead due to her power as the hero.)

So she and Raphael approach the wall of twilight once again. Raphael warns her she might not be able to return, but a promise is a promise and he’ll help her friends.

* * *

So they are now in the woods, stained with twilight, and follow the lamentation of the light spirit to the next spring. There’s another battle with the shadow beasts—more this time—and Raphael has a more active role and helping Maia kill them. (Which, again. Complicated feelings!!!)

Time for the first tears of light quest! In order to restore the light spirit, they must find each stolen tear of light scattered around the area, hidden by dark insects, and return them to the spring. This will happen multiple times, I won’t explain it every time.

They restore the light spring, and she is human once more! The spirit says some more stuff about “you’re the chosen hero” and explains the whole thing about how she became a wolf because she’s got the power of the chosen hero—while she could still have the traditional green tunic, not sure that hat would really work—and that now, in order to match the power of the queen of twilight who has caused these problems… she should go after a forbidden dark power hidden in a temple deep in the woods.

So she and Raphael head off to the forest temple, defeat the monsters and solve puzzles, get the boomerang by slapping some monkey ass with a sword (no i am not kidding) and finally face the first boss… the twilit parasite, Diababa. A great plant with huge teeth and multiple heads and also an eyeball on its tongue??

And just like… y’all. Maia was literally a farmhand herding goats like a few days ago. Now she’s going through an ancient temple, befriending monkeys, finding a possessed boomerang that can conjure its own wind, and like. Fighting huge plants with teeth. And she’s _good at it._ A) what a badass. B) I imagine this is a weird thing to go through.

So Maia defeats the boss… and retrieves the first fused shadow. Raphael says this is what he was looking for—the dark power the light spirit warned them of. Something that, when united with its other parts, could be used to match Camille’s power.

But they must collect the others—each is most likely with the other light spirits.

They return to the light spirit, and are warned (again!!) that Hyrule isn’t saved yet, despite their victory, and the other light spirits must be restored.

So once again, they approach the twilight. Raphael warns her she’ll become a wolf again, and there’s no telling when or if she’ll be able to transform back. He can bring her into the twilight if she’s ready (as you can only enter if pulled in from the other side) but he gives her fair warning. It’s crossing the threshold. A point of no return. A choice. But steely and determined, she says, _Pull me in._

God, what a badass.

Also did I mention Maia can definitely talk? Yeah she’s not Link. She can talk. This could also change some stuff in the game. I mean she can’t talk as a wolf but she’s pretty expressive.

* * *

On the other side of the wall, they find the wooden sword she gave to the kids, and now that she’s a wolf, she can learn the scent and track it later. They fight more shadow beasts, find a missing bridge, replace said bridge, etc.

(Also, there’s a sort of small conflict where Maia’s sort of like… wow twilight sucks huh and Raphael’s like JUST BECAUSE. IT DOESN’T BELONG HERE. DOESN’T MEAN IT SUCKS. Raphael keeps “subtly” being like wow twilight is very pretty. I mean obviously we’ll restore this place to its former…. lightiness… but twilight ain’t so bad, HUH. And he’s not wrong—twilight _isn’t_ bad. Darkness isn’t bad. Imbalance is what’s bad here. Camille wants to make both worlds stuck in twilight, in the in-between, but that’s not what it’s meant to be.)

They get to the light spirit, more stuff about Maia being the chosen hero and getting the tears of light, blah blah blah. (Maia pouncing on those dark bugs like a cat on a laser pointer? Perhaps.)

Now what Maia overhears from the ghosts of Kakariko Village _during_ this quest is much more interesting….

The bomb maker is babysitting “some brats” and Maia’s like _oh shit are those MY brats?_ So they sneak in.

Cue seeing the ghost of the bombmaker (an insensitive coward who likes to explode things… Jace? Honestly feeling that might be a disservice to the bombmaker) peering out the window, and several children—including ones you know, albeit not all of them—as well as some you don’t, gathered around a tall man.

The bombmaker is scaring the kids with his talk of monsters eating kids, while the man—introduced as Renado (genuinely thinking about making him Catarina—a kind healer? Hell yeah. But I’m not sure it works)—tries to comfort them. The bombmaker keeps talking. The kids are terrified. He is not fucking helping.

Maia learns that—and this is fucked up and scary—that a woman from the general store had been attacked by a monster, and when a whole group of men went to help her… she was gone, and two monsters were waiting. Which. TERRIFYING.

Renado yells at the bombmaker as the children begin to cry at this frankly terrifying implication. It’s revealed there’s a cellar they could hide in, but it only opens when all the candles are lit… but it has the dark insects Maia’s looking for in it.

And then, most heartbreaking of all (and main reason I included this scene)… one of the kids cries, and insists that Maia must be coming to save them. But where is she?

They can’t see Maia, and even if they could, they’d only see a wolf. Fucking heartbreaking. Maia just has to listen to this. Raphael says she must be quite the hero if they knew she was coming to save them—if only they knew she was here. She’s quite the lonely hero… not quite friends with Raphael yet, and isolated from everyone else, she feels alone on her quest.

(Side note: I totally forgot Link howls instead of whistles/plays an instrument when he’s a wolf, and Maia fucking howling little tunes is a very cute image.)

Another encounter with the Ancient Hero’s Shade… Maia interacting with the Hero’s Shade has such cool potential tbh. Obviously the Hero’s Shade is the Link’s past life—in this case, Maia’s. Maia’s precedent, the Hero of Time, teaching her how to fight?? Iconic.

* * *

So Maia hunts down the tears of light and purifies the spring, returning to her human form and banishing the twilight from the area… now to hunt down the next fused shadow, after speaking with the light spirit.

Yadda yadda, they all have pretty similar monologues about the chosen hero of the gods and being one of few light spirits needed to defeat Camille, and then where to find the dark power she seeks (aka the fused shadow). Cleanse the sacred grounds, find the shadow, etc.

And as she emerges from the spring, the children, no longer spirits, run from the house they’d been hiding in, seeing the twilight and the monsters gone, and see Maia! She did come to save them, just like they said!

(Worth noting, as it will pay off in a little bit: Colin, the sensitive child from earlier, is shoved over in the excitement. Ouch.)

Renado emerges and is like hm so there’s actually a Maia from the village huh. He’s the shaman of the town, and he introduces—not the cowardly bombmaker, but his daughter. Maia’s told that the shaman found them attacked by monsters, and took them in. They have no idea how they got this far—their memories in the twilight were blurred, making them feel like they were in a nightmare.

Renado tells them that the Gorons have been acting strangely—once friends, now they treat them as foes. Once gentle and proud, now they’ve changed… perhaps due to someone or some _thing_ in the mines. So this is where the next mystery lies, as that is also where the fused shadow seems to reside.

* * *

So Maia heads up there, her shadow beside her as she climbs the mountain.

Remember how I said her stopping a goat by herself was random? Well, here’s the payoff. Gorons rolling down the hill, and how do you stop them? Like you’d stop a goat.

Unfortunately, one issue: Gorons don’t have horns, and are considerably heavier. Maia’s going to need something to hold her in place… perhaps some very heavy boots. Not a joke.

Renado suggests Maia go talk to a man who has befriended Gorons before, despite them apparently only respecting pure strength that no normal human/Hylian could have. The problem? He’s back in Maia’s home village. In fact, he’s the mayor. Will the homecoming be awkward? Painful? Happy?

But Maia is interrupted by Bulblins, like the very ones who kidnapped her friends, riding in—with Epona! Epona’s back, and they couldn’t control her! Maia jumps on her back and manages to sooth her—even Raphael is impressed. And now with a horse she can get around much faster.

Another encounter with the Hero’s Shade—Maia’s getting used to these, tbh, she isn’t even surprised when a golden ghostly wolf appears out of nowhere and lunges at her and suddenly she’s surrounded by fog and a skeletal warrior appears like “hey wanna learn something cool” except more Fancy™.

Maia arrives back in town, and the mayor is shocked to see her okay and dressed in completely different clothing, with sword and shield. Maia tells him the children are safe with Renado, but has to tell him that some of them are still missing… including the mayor’s daughter.

He asks if he can help in any way, and Maia’s like _well actually!_

And he confesses, yes, he did gain the trust of the Gorons… with a little secret. And he’ll tell her, but only if she tells no one else.

You know what it is?

That’s right! Heavy boots, babey!

He shows her sumo wrestling and relates it to stopping goats—he shows her how to do it… and gives her a pair of iron boots. But again, she can never tell anyone, especially not Renado. Which she agrees to, amused.

(To clarify: he wants this to be a secret because as far as anyone knows, he earned the Gorons' respect with his own strength, without cheating. And he's a big dude, he's embarrassed he needed The Heavy Boots(TM) to do it... even tho it's like, literally humanly impossible, and would take a good deal of strength even with the boots. So he's like [moblin under the bridge voice] It's A Secret To Everyone) 

* * *

Back in Kakariko, trouble strikes. King Bulblin, troublemaker and kidnapper himself, rides into town astride his great armored boar as the children scramble inside, terrified.

One of them, however, is frozen in terror. The adult there—the cowardly bombmaker—does nothing to help. But Colin, the sweet and sensitive one who wants to be like Maia when he grows up… he sees her frozen, and he almost goes inside with the rest, but determined, he runs forward to save her, despite all the teasing, and pushes her out of the way.

King Bulblin looks to see if anyone will challenge him. The cowardly bombmaker is a definite no.

He holds up Colin triumphantly, and Maia rides in, fierce and determined to rescue the boy tied to King Bulblin’s flag. He blows his horn, summoning minions, and Maia must ride after him on Epona and fight them all, until finally the minions are defeated and the king retreats to the great bridge.

Archers block the exits with fire, and they charge at each other. Maia knocks him off the his steed and off the bridge, holding her sword aloft in victory.

She rescues Colin—who only asks if everyone else is okay.

The kid he rescued looks… kind of amazed, as he sees everyone is okay and smiles. He—he fucking apologizes for shoving her, this sweet little child, and she says it’s okay.

The sensitive child who hated violence… but he’s the strongest of them, you know? He says he understands what his dad meant when he said he needed to be stronger like Maia—not strong as in physical strength, but as in being brave… having courage. I love this kid, y’all. Very tempted to make this Madzie but I’m not sure it really fits.

He thanks Maia for saving him and says she can do anything—and that she can help the Gorons in the mine, too. Maia nods, and the kid finally passes out. He’s not dead, just… injured, and tired. Renado carries him inside to heal him, and Maia is left to her quest to defeat the evil in the mines.

She climbs that mountain path again, and this time when the Goron lunges at her and she goes to stop them like she stops the goats back home, she succeeds. With her heavy boots that somehow no one notices even though they’re obviously metal.

(Also let’s forget how inventory works with her carrying shit around. Midna/Raphael is shown to store her sword/shield when she’s in wolf form, so presumably he can help store her heavy shit, too. Convenient powers for the win.)

And finally she meets the Goron elder (metal boots clanging all the way--oh no, maia says, i want to trick some gorons, but the clap of my dummy thicc boots keeps alerting them to my cheating) and is told she can only pass into the sacred mines if she fights the elder in a contest of power (sumo wrestling) and wins. (Hilariously, when the Goron does the beginning stomp it like shakes the floor, and Maia’s just sort of thuds.) But with the boots, Maia wins, and is granted entrance to the mines.

The mines are sacred because of a treasure granted by the spirits in them—but something has infected it, and when one of the elders went to touch it, he transformed into a terrible monster, raging through the mines… so they trapped him in there. And now the Gorons are asking for her help, calling her _young warrior._ Go through the booby trapped mines and rescue the elder from his cursed state.

* * *

Cue the next dungeon! Lots of puzzles, monsters, magnetic platforms (“Raphael. Raphael I am literally walking on wall. Over lava. Held up by my fucking iron boots. What is my life.”)

Then gathering key shards, talking to some Elders, and retrieving a weapon “left here by a hero of old”… And then the _terrifying_ mini-boss fight on a moving, tilting platform over lava. And finally the new weapon: a bow and arrow.

 _How many weapons am I going to have master on this quest,_ mutters Maia, not realizing it will be far more than like, the three or four she has now.

More puzzles and fighting probably, blah blah blah, final boss time, babey!

A massive chained figure breathing heavily lies ahead, terrifying with a glowing gem eye. The twilit igniter, Fyrus. Dumb name, I know.

 _Always aim for the weird eye,_ Maia mutters, _Got it._

It bursts into flames.

_Shit._

And rips out the chains.

_Double shit._

Badass Maia trips it with its own chains, and you know, blah blah blah, boss fight. I am not the best at combat scenes. You can look up someone playing it on YouTube if you really wanna see.

Maia retrieves the fushed shadow, and the Goron elder is freed from its influence. Raphael congratulates her on her victory, and say she’s been so helpful… she might be interested in hearing a story.

(He’s beginning to trust her.)

He tells her the twilight queen’s name—Camille—and how she’s very strong. But it’s power Raphael doesn’t respect. And that she can still be defeated with the fused shadows.

(Originally Midna says Zelda is spoiled and how could she be taught duty with her soft life? But admits she can’t begrudge her circumstances that she couldn’t control, and that she would never wish harm on her. That doesn’t really fit into my interpretation with Magnus and Raphael as Zelda and Midna, but like, worth noting.)

I’m gonna say he might tell Maia a little more about how Camille came to power and tricked Magnus, while still avoiding the confession of his true identity.

* * *

Maia and Raphael return to the spring, having purged the mines, and the light spirit tells them where to go next for the light spirit… as well as “The one you seek”, that being whoever the Ilia counterpart is, I’m sorry, I _still don’t know._ Clary, maybe? And the uncomfortable romantic tension is not a thing, but maybe Clary has a crush, idk.

Colin asks Maia to go save her, and admits that thoughts of her and Maia were what kept him going, and knowing they’re okay keeps him strong.

This kid, y’all.

Renado says he’ll watch over them, and Maia’s free to go save Clary(???)… And Renado astutely notices that her actions remind him of those of the tale of the ancient hero.

I love Renado too, honestly.

Maia and Raphael arrive at the next twilight wall, and once again, she descends into the darkness. (Not before Raphael gives her a choice, one more time, to try and back out, but she keeps moving forward. For Clary(?????? Fuck I need to decide) and for Colin, for Raphael, and for Magnus, and for the world. Both worlds.

She becomes a wolf again, and Raphael is solid once more, and Raphael comments this is likely the last twilight she’ll see… perhaps. Ominous, thank you!

The castle is in the distance, cloaked in twilight. They’ve come full circle.

Raphael says things will only get harder from here.

* * *

They venture onwards into the castle once again. First through Castle Town—swarming with lost spirits—then to the castle itself.

And there’s Clary/Ilia, her spirit with Telma’s, watching over a young Zora boy. But Maia’s friend can’t see or hear her, and like last time, even if they could, they’d only see a wolf.

They go to the bridge, and Maia sees a Bulblin archer, and they’re trapped on both sides with fire rushing towards them (Maia finds herself _growling,_ which is still weird every time) and she has to jump over the edge, Raphael on her back probably trying not to scream.

Luckily they land in the lake…. The mostly drained lake. Lake Hylia and the Zora have suffered under the twilight. Something in the Zora’s Domain is wrong, and water is no longer flowing… _Gee, I wonder where we have to go next_ , Maia thinks.

Seems she spends a lot of time running towards trouble these days. But she also spends a lot of time as a fucking wolf, so.

A monster summons a shadow beast but with _wings_ to fight Maia, and I mention it because the thing lowkey scared the shit out of me as a kid, and also like the shadow beasts I’m pretty sure it’s a corrupted twili. Don’t quote me on that, though.

Raphael actually stops it himself—stopping Maia from killing it, instead riding it and taming it so that they can ride it to Zora’s Domain, previously unreachable.

Cue scary flight sequence to Zora’s Domain.

Zora’s Domain, cloaked in twilight, has completely frozen over.. spirits of the Zora still inside the water.

There’s another shadow beast fight, a little more complicated than the last with fancy barriers, and they realize that the Zoras are below them, trapped in the ice. Terrifying! Sad! Scary! Wow

Even Raphael seems bewildered and a little horrified and says _We can’t just leave them like this, we need to get them out—find a way to melt the ice._

Maia is beginning to realize that Raphael is not as heartless as he likes to pretend. Or rather consciously starting to realize it, she was already sort of beginning to trust him and see that even if she didn’t really outright think about it.

So they portal a lava rock from the volcano they were at earlier to melt the ice. No joke. I mean there’s precedent, that’s how they fixed the bridge, too. But it’s still kinda funny. But hey, it works!

The spirits are free from the ice, and Lake Hylia presumably is filling as water flows once more.

(“The Zoras are safe now, so let’s go…” a line I think is quite reminiscent of both Midna’s character and Raphael’s in this case.)

The ghost of a queen—queen of the Zora—thanks them for melting the Zora’s Domain, and asks Maia to see if a Zora boy—her son, the prince—she sent to warn Prince Magnus is okay. He’s dying, and she fears for him. If Maia agrees to save him, she will grant him the ability to swim in deep water as a Zora would. Pretty sweet deal, especially given that Maia probably would have done it anyway.

But first, she must get back to the world of light and her human form so she can talk to the Zora boy she saw earlier at all.

And then Raphael suggests they fucking ride the waterfalls down. “Come on, Maia,” he says mischievously, “Jump off the fucking waterfall and ride it back down. Probably would be faster than walking, right?” WILD.

There’s a big scary ghost bug in the water, naturally. I think this has something to do with the tears of light. And sure enough, when Maia bites it to death, out comes some light tears, and they return it to the spring, blah blah blah, more fused shadow time.

I think at this point Maia might be about as tired as this repeating quest as I was when I played it, but maybe it’s different when you’re actually physically doing it.

* * *

This is the last of the light spirits, though—and once restored, that seems like a good thing, right? The light spirit tells Maia (now human again!) to go to a certain temple to get the “dark power” and blah blah, they all kind of say the same thing… until this one says something weird.

“But first you must bear witness to something…. And never forget it. You must know that it was the will of the gods that we lock away the forbidden power.” Hm! Ominous!

And now for the horrifying infamous dream sequence I shall try to replicate.

And then Maia opens her eyes to darkness, floating as lights swirl around her, illustrating the spirit narrating an ancient story—the goddesses creating order and life in the world in a primordial chaos, granting power equally to all those who dwelt in the light, then returning to the heavens. Maia finds herself in her beginning clothes, with her friends from the village, and the spirit says that at first everyone lived in peace. But then battles broke out (Maia turns, sees her childhood friend holds a dagger, still smiling, her eyes pure white—) over the idea of a divine power locked away, (her friend lunges for her, the dagger falls along with Maia’s sword, her own eyes now white as she watches herself run for a golden power, the Triforce--) and among those living in the lights, interlopers excelling at magic appeared (Three identical Maias, except they are cloaked in shadow, their clothes drenched with it, their eyes glowing red, features blending into the darkness behind them and they laugh as a giant fused shadow rises behind them—) and wielding powerful sorcery they tried to control the Sacred Realm of the Triforce (the three Maia’s outstretch their hands and she crumbles to dust, but then she is one of them, eyes still pure white, laughing with them—) and the light spirits were ordered to intervene. So they sealed their magic away (the fused shadow descends and the Maias back up, screaming in outrage, her own face twisting in pure fury—) and that magic was the fused shadows you seek (they circle Maia, her face eerily calm as thousands of giggling copies of her friend descend downwards, upside down and spinning slowly, laughing and terrifying—). Beware, o chosen hero, for those who do not the danger of the power they wield will soon be ruled by that (the copies continue to giggle in the silence, almost hysterically, as they spin down into darkness) you must never forget that, (she sees her own face twist into an evil, smug smile) and then she wakes up, falling to her knees with a gasp.

The spirit tells her where the dark power is, and wishes her luck, and Maia leaves… considerably shaken. I mean, it was a horrifying nightmare sequence, and just frankly creepy as hell. It’d be much worse to experience it, I think, let alone with your own face and the face of your friends.

* * *

(Also an encounter with the Hero’s Shade! Great.)

Now with twilight purged from the area, Maia can go to see her friend (Ilia/Clary) and the Zora boy once more. She’s excited to see her and she—barely acknowledges Maia. Ouch.

They don’t know what to do for him—the boy is dying, and the only doctor doesn’t have the expertise necessary to treat a Zora. Telma, the bar owner (I’m sorry I’m not coming up with sh counterparts for everyone—it’s just so specific it’s hard to? I guess Telma could be like, Catarina or something, but it doesn’t really fit) remembers a certain shaman who might be able to help… you guessed it, Renado.

The guards say it’s too dangerous to go alone!! They’ll escort the pretty girl!! Telma dryly informs them of all the dangers on the way. They shamelessly flee. Cowards.

But Maia! Maia is still there, sword ready, and she volunteers to escort them, despite the fact Ilia/Clary/whatever apparently has zero interest… whatever could be wrong with her?

Maia’s confused and probably hurt… until Telma informs her she’s lost her memory, and doesn’t even know her own name. It’s a cruel stroke of fate, but not born of Ilia/Clary actually straight-up ignoring her.

She found the Zora boy collapsed and even without memory did all she could save him (this does not sound like canon Clary, does it, lmao).

So I’m not sure how Maia would tackle this—decide she doesn’t need to know they know each other right now? Tell her right away?

Link doesn’t say shit ever, so he doesn’t start then, but Maia can like, actually talk. So idk how that’s going to work. If I were more interested in Ilia/Clary I might be more inclined to think of something more interesting to say, but honestly, I’m just sort of like… yeah. I don’t really care as much as the game wants me to oops

Although: heartbreaking moment where she says “…Maia?” and she thinksmaybe she remembered, but no, she’s just saying “I will never in all my life forgive your kindness in helping me” which—OUCH. _Ouch._

Cue a sequence of riding ahead of the carriage to take care of beasts before they can attack.

Including that damn King Bulblin again—back with half his horn missing! (More on him in the later details.) Maia throws him off the bridge again—and fucking _pickpockets him for his keys._

* * *

I’d like to say at this point that Maia and Raphael wouldn’t normally interact a lot in the non-twilight sections where he’s just hiding in her shadow, but I like to think he’s keeping a running commentary, or making shadow puppets/shapes to tease her with.

They bring the Zora boy to Renado, and Colin is eager to help, and it’s very sweet—and Ilia/Clary is reunited with them, even not knowing her past. (Colin asks about it, Renado says something about helping her regaining it won’t be easy, but she needs time… and Colin can help with his courage, as he like, has been trying to the whole time, you know?)

And Telma asks if Maia perhaps wants to use her skills…. To join the Resistance! A secret group of people bent on saving Hyrule.

Honestly I love Telma. I am tempted to make her Catarina just because I love them both but I don’t know if it would really work. So she says to make it back to her bar—it’s got a passageway to the castle, and is a safe haven for the Resistance.

Maia almost goes to talk to her friends, to Ilia/Clary… but the Zora Queen’s spirit sort of… appears? And she follows her away to the graveyard, to the very back, to a stone marked by the symbol of the Zora, glowing and revealing a passage.

When Maia crawls through… on the other side is a spring, and in that spring, the grave of the queen’s late husband containing Zora Armor, allowing Maia to swim deep in the water. (He isn’t wearing it, thankfully.)

(Apparently bringing the queen's son here, to the village sacred to the Zora, where they lay their dead to rest, was a good idea. What a coincidence! Or destiny, perhaps.)

This puts the queen’s spirit to rest—with one last message, to her living son. (To be brave, that his mother loves him, that kind of thing. It’s… quite sad.)

And Raphael’s like wow everything’s really coming together, huh? But don’t forget—we need the last fused shadow. Even if you have saved the people you love… you should still help me, because if you don’t, the tragedy will likely continue. Camille and the twilight won't just leave you alone.

He asks her to keep helping, and she says _don’t worry… I’ve come too far to turn back now._

Returning to Zora’s Domain, no longer steeped in twilight, shows a city full of concerned Zora, looking for their prince and mourning their queen.

Maia also finds a trapped Goron deep in Zora’s domain who gives her a bag of bombs—interesting thank you gift! But useful.

And finally, she makes her way to the temple.

* * *

Cue another dungeon, more puzzles and fighting.

Honestly tho… let’s talk about Maia solving these puzzles for a second like she’s smart as hell?? We stan?? Not sure what the non-gamey explanation for all the dungeons being set up like this would be but I guess it’s just “figure out the booby trap”? Who knows.

And then she gets the _clawshot._ Can you imagine how badass it would feel to have a clawshot?? And the means to actually use it??? It’s like a grappling hook but better. You hold your hand out and fucking zoom up and across the room. Badass. Oh my god imagine Maia lowkey goofing around with this as she practices.

And then the final boss….. look this one isn’t hard but the _atmosphere._ Terrifying.

Maia descends into a huge open space, pillars towering but still seeming small below her as she slowly drifts downwards to the circle of shimmering light on the sand where the opening above her lights the otherwise dark underwater space.

And then a single, shimmering tentacle drifting from the sand. An eyeball _inside it_ slides up, swiveling to look around, sees her, and descends below the sand again.

Then another tentacle. Another. All crackling with electricity.

Out emerges a huge multi-fanged mouth—the twilit aquatic, Morpheel.

Time to hit eyes again.

After a bit of slicing, the thing emerges fully from the sand, ground shaking as the massive worm slides from the ground, huge and terrifying, and swims around the room.

After this guy goes down—more eye slicing—the last fused shadow emerges, and the water drains.

Raphael takes the shadow, and basically apologizes without apologizing (sheepish and a little guilty, but firm in his motivations, he did what he had to) that he’s sorry he’s put her through so much on this journey, dragged her around, but he really needed those shadows, and he needed to defeat Camille and her false power.

* * *

Honestly… I wanted to give this bit its own section. But I thought it needed to be here, for anyone actually reading this absurdly long plot summary (it’s basically the entire game’s plot applied to Maiaphael but I think I’m including too much detail lkjflhj but it’s too late to stop now oops). It's a big part of the story.

So here we are, at one of my favorite scenes in this AU: [Midna’s Lament, and the Prince’s Sacrifice.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhb23i-c47A)

This is one of the most terrifying, heartbreaking scenes in the game. It really fucking punches you in the gut. Let’s put it terms of Maiaphael and Magnus, hm?

At the spring of one of the light spirits, all seems well and peaceful. (It’s always peaceful springs this shit happens at, huh?)

Then Maia turns around, smile still lingering on her face, and there’s Camille. Abrupt, silent, terrifying, red lips twisted in a smile.

The light spirit roars but she effortlessly bats it back and poisons the spring, twilight descending on the land again, forcibly transforming Maia into a wolf and revealing Raphael from his hiding place in her shadow.

She easily restrains Raphael, taking the fused shadows they worked so hard to get without even trying, mocking them for gathering them at all.

Maia tries to lunge at her, but she effortlessly knocks her back, cursing her with something, knocking her in the ground and trapping her in wolf form… possibly for good.

And then… after a creepy monologue about darkness blotting the light, light and dark not mixing, etc…. she asks for Raphael to lend her his power. (Worth noting that at this point, Maia has no idea he’s the true prince of twilight, only that he’s a being of twilight who wants to save both worlds.)

Raphael refuses, struggling away and spitting in her face, and for a second she looks furious, but then it’s quickly concealed under her calm, cruel exterior, and she laughs, and says he can return to the light he loves so much.

So she forcibly exposes him to the light spirit’s purest light, still in his twilight form, and he _screams_ and Maia can’t help and—

Raphael is fatally wounded, even as the light spirit helps them escape.

Now outside the twilight, Maia is still trapped as a wolf, and Raphael lies slumped on her back, gray and pale and limp. He tells her weakly to get to the prince in the castle—not to save him, but to undo the curse Camille placed on her.

From then, he goes quiet, and Maia only hears only his labored breathing as she desperately carries him to the castle.

As a wolf, for the first time since the beginning, she feels helpless. She can’t fight, not with Raphael on her back, not there to help her but so vulnerable, too vulnerable for her to fight with on her back, and she can’t communicate or ask for help. She has to sneak around the people, run from the monsters. She has no hands, no weapons, only the weight of her _friend_ on her back, wheezing and dying, and the slim hope that the prince may be able to help him.

(In the game, [Midna’s Lament](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBRdekWKxI) is playing, which is beautiful and sad and oh my _god.)_

When Maia finally gets to the prince’s room, for a moment it looks like he isn’t there and she has no idea what to do. Raphael falls to the floor and she can’t help him, she tries to comfort him but she’s scared and doesn’t know how to help, what to do next—and there’s Magnus, gasping in shock at Raphael so limp and pale, rushing to his side and kneeling, as scared as she is for him.

Raphael doesn’t think of his own health at all, nor his usually snarky and grumpy outward attitude—he begs Magnus to help her, to save her. Both because he cares for her (he has already changed much since he last saw Magnus, no longer is she a tool or a reluctant ally, now she is a friend, someone he cares about) and because he truly believes she can defeat Camille and save his people, with or without him.

Magnus tells him _(my dear boy!)_ that he can’t lift the curse on Maia, as it’s of a different kind of magic, but he can tell them where to go to fix it. Raphael thanks him, telling Maia she’ll be able to get to there herself, that she knows the way, wishing her luck. And then asks him to tell Maia where the Mirror of Twilight is. He doesn’t expect to get out of this alive.

Magnus looks so sad, so horribly sad and even scared, but he tells Raphael that he can’t let him die, that the world needs him far more than it needs Magnus. (He doesn’t say it, but—well. Magnus is a failure of a prince, a failure of a king. He gave up, he let her in, she manipulated him and he let it happen, this is all his fault—and he’s trapped here in this stupid castle, but Raphael could do so much more, and quite honestly, he’d have sacrificed himself if it meant saving Raphael anyway, he always would—) and Raphael begs him not to, tells Maia to stop him, but Magnus says _I give you my light,_ and his hand glows with his own Triforce—the Triforce of Wisdom—and the light flows into Raphael, and heals him.

And as Magnus looks up at him—one last time, they both think, as they lock eyes, Magnus’s eyes full of tearful acceptance, glad to save him, Raphael’s full of horrified denial… and disappears.

Raphael is brought back, healthy and safe. Magnus sacrificed himself.

And that haunting line… “I have taken all that you had to give, although I did not want it.”

Raphael did not ask for this sacrifice, for someone he loved to do this, but he will honor it. He will use it to save both of their peoples, and bury his grief until he has the freedom to feel it.

(God, and the effect this has… Maia, trying to comfort him, knowing they were close, but Raphael doesn’t want to acknowledge it, doesn’t want to talk about it because it hurts so much Magnus is gone because of him…

And _Alec,_ god… do they get to tell him? Or does he come back to find Magnus simply gone? I feel like they have to tell him, or there’s a note, and he’s devastated. Fuck. _Fuck.)_

(In case anyone doesn’t know, Zelda/Magnus does get brought back, so this isn’t a tragic ending for him. Y’all know I couldn’t stand that. But no one here knows that at this point, so. Ouch.)

* * *

As they escape the castle, it becomes encased in a diamond of pure twilight, impenetrable and ominous as hell.

Raphael is full of rage at all Camille’s done, all she’s taken from him—and also now sees he is existing in the world of light without being a shadow, all due to Magnus’s light.

They enter the Sacred Grove as planned, Maia howls a cute song and then turns in a circle, and they meet some creepy disjointed doll people. Which I think she sort of has to play tag with, following them through the forest? Yeah. Raphael is understandably not particularly talkative at the moment.

Maia saves the little doll dude from some monsters, and it leaders her on to… another howling stone. Imma be real, other than the hero’s shade I kinda forgot what these are for.

Well, looks like in this case it activates some guardians… that make a puzzle! So another puzzle. They mirror Maia’s movements, and she has to get both of them safely to their original positions. Then they’ll allow entrance. Which she does—thank god they can’t or won’t fall off—and she enters the now opened door they were guarding to the Sacred Grove.

And there is the Master Sword!!! It lifts the curse keeping Maia a wolf and expels the diamond shaped stone Camille had used to keep her that way.

Maia draws the sword from the stone—bad _ass!!!_ Maia with the Master Sword, now isn’t that an image—and holds it aloft, now official wielder of the sacred blade.

And Raphael is solid beside her in human form for the first time… ever, really, other than brief moments in the twilight.

He shows the crystal used to curse her. (Originally this was given to Zant by Ganondorf, but as I have yeeted Ganondorf and sort of blended them together for the sake of making the personal beats hit more—plus while it would be satisfying to see Camille throwing a tantrum, she isn’t really an empty pathetic puppet type of villain—that means talking about the undertones of Camille having other stolen power might not really work so much, as there is no Ganondorf counterpart. I guess it could be she’s not true twili, but in fact something else, as Ganondorf was, but I’m not sure. I’ll leave it up to interpretation.)

Turns out, quite conveniently, that it can be harnessed to turn into a wolf whenever she pleased (Since Camille was kind enough to give it to them, he says sarcastically) and turn back with the Master Sword, meaning she’ll be able to control it.

And I think being able to control it will definitely affect her feelings about her wolf form a lot, now that she can exert that control over her own form, use it, make it hers. Just as she made her wolf form in canon hers, rather than a punishment.

And Raphael asks her a favor—if she’ll come with him to find the Mirror of Twilight, the last potential link to Camllle. They can continue to help each other, right?

Link and Midna don’t really talk about it, but I’d imagine Maia and Raphael do (as Maia says more than “hyah!” and “HHHGHH”).

* * *

(Another encounter with the Hero’s Shade. Kind of uneventful at this point, other than Maia kinda being like “guess I know another rad sword move thanks to my ghostly mentor, who’s also my past life’s ghost, and she reminded me to keep practicing like a mom, let’s not think about this”)

Weirdly dressed man offers Maia the chance to be _shot out of a cannon._ True story.

There’s some funky circus like music, and Maia, who was not turning down this chance, much to Raphael’s “WHAT THE FUCK” is shot all the way to Gerudo Desert, I guess. Damn.

Raphael stops her from going further, and says he wants to talk about something.

He asked what she thought happened to those magic users from the spirit’s story, who tried to use the fused shadows.

When she guesses half heartedly, he tells her they were banished. Away from Hyrule, into another realm.

The opposte of Hyrule, a land where all who lived there who became shadows unable to live in the light… forever doomed to eternal twilight.

Mere shadows of people…

In the twilight realm.

His ancestors.

Their story… banished from Hyrule by cruel goddesses. That is what they were taught. To hate the light. And he is one of them, one of those descendants of magic-users who abused their power.

But nevertheless, their people were peaceful. Until Camille first corrupted her loyal followers… and then all of the twili, transforming them into shadow beasts and taking control.

The very beasts you’ve been fighting.

As realization dawns on Maia—that they’ve been fighting Raphael’s fellow people, perhaps even killing them, although as they dissolved into shadows they might have survived—Raphael continues on, not looking at her. (They will be having WORDS later.)

That Camille found some terrible and unknown power and used it to take control.

That he escaped the Twilight Realm, no longer able to return without the power she’d stolen.

Maia listens, wanting to comfort him, but he won’t look at her. He needs to finish his story first.

Although the goddesses forbade the twili to return to the world of light, they left one link between them, one link through which Raphael and Magnus met (although he does not say this now). ~~(Yes I am fudging canon shut up I want my Raphael and Magnus friendship.)~~

That link—the Mirror of Twilight—was passed down to the protectors of Hyrule. Namely Magnus and the royal family.

And it’s the only way back to the Twilight Realm.

But will Maia come with him? Help him defeat Camille?

She reassures him that this doesn’t change her opinion of him at all and—of course she’ll help him.

They had a rough start, but… they’re friends.

Raphael seems a bit surprised at this definition, but she is firm on it.

They’re friends.

* * *

(The Hero’s Shade, popping up again: HEY MOTHERFUCKER IT’S ME AGAIN ARE YOU PRACTICING YOUR SWORD, DEAR?)

(Not for the first—or indeed last—time, Maia wonders how this became her life in such a short amount of time. Don’t ask me how long, but despite how it couldn’t have been long at all, it felt like years since she’d been fishing in her home village, teaching the kids how to use a slingshot… being excited over a day trip to Hyrule Castle. And now she was learning secret, forbidden sword techniques from a ghost, with her best friend a twilight being by her side, and a crystal that could turn her into a wolf at will, as she enters the Arbiter’s Grounds in a faraway desert. Wow.)

So the Arbiter’s Grounds happens. Creepy place. More puzzles and fighting. I’m gonna skim over getting the spinner (although that must be SO fun to play with, again) and all that.

And then the end, a massive skeleton, and Camille standing atop it gracefully, stabbing a sword into its forehead and letting it glow with evil red magic, reanimating it. The twilit fossil, Stallord, rises.

Which… might give Maia nightmares.

Honestly, she’ll be coming out of this quest with a lot of nightmares.

Yet another grandly scaled fight—striking the monster at its spine, avoiding undead soldiers rising from the sand, balancing on the fucking spinner as she zips and zooms about, glad she practiced back with all those puzzles so she doesn’t lose her balance and fall.

There’s a moment she thinks she’s defeated it—as it the sand recedes and it sinks, leaving only the head…. but as she moves to activate the middle platform that will rise to the top again so she can leave… it rises again. Just a huge floating skeletal head that won’t die. Shooting fire as she has to leap from wall to wall on the spinner, batting back huge balls of fire with her sword—and god if this isn’t both terrifying and exhilarating, leaping from wall to wall and feeling the heat of magical flames, sometimes missing and getting burned but having to keep going.

Maia was already strong before, given that she could stop a charging goat with her bare hands and stuff, but like…. damn. She’s gotten stronger. She’s growing into her role as hero.

Beyond those doors unlocked with the defeat of the beast lies the Mirror of Twilight… right?

* * *

There’s statue with a snake to go up—using the spinner, again, that must feel so badass—and the mechanism lifts something up revealing the Mirror of Twilight and—it’s _broken._

Only one fragment is there.

Raphael is shocked, angry, despairing—hope is lost. The mirror is broken. What can they do?

And Maia looks up and sees the ghost of sages above them.

She tells Raphael to look, and the sages begin to speak.

Telling them they’ve guarded the mirror for a long time… until Camille. This is actually where it gets really dicey, as this was originally about Ganondorf, and Zant and him were different characters. But I’ve melded them, as I put the characters and angst above overall plot.

So I’m thinking perhaps Camille sort of shares a similar backstory—leader of a band of thieves invading Hyrule in hopes of capturing the Sacred Realm, an evil sorceress with great power and a penchant for hurting people… arrogant, blind to anyone who could threaten his power, subdued… Like him, she still was meant to be executed, sword through her middle, and with her Triforce of Power, still used it to survive, laughing at them trying to kill her, ripping from her chains and murdering one of the sages.

But when she was banished to the Twilight Realm, rather than influencing evil power on another, she became a twili herself and used her prison to overthrow both worlds and gain new power. Perhaps it’s wibbly wobbly timey wimey, the way she was sent back, hence being in the royal household a while. Or perhaps that simply happened a long time ago.

Zelda fans, particularly _Twilight Princess_ fans, might be cringing. I get it!! Sorry. But also not sorry, this is a fun AU for fun reasons, so I can fuck with lore if I want to. Besides, this AU doesn’t really consider the overall context of all the games and all the games lore, but takes _Twilight Princess_ mostly as its own singular thing.

The sages tell them the fragments of the mirror are scattered, and they’ll have to find them if they want access to the Twilight Realm.

* * *

First stop: Snowpeak Mansion… atop, you guessed it, a tall snowy peak.

The journey ahead seems long and perilous, lonely and cold. Much colder than it should have been—and it seems whatever froze Zora’s Domain may be responsible for this, too.

And a giant! A giant is here, and they are warned about it at the entrance (and given a sketch of it!). The giant has been stealing red fish from the Zora village… perhaps it is responsible for the blizzard?

Maia—and idk why she’d do this but it’s something gotta do to progress (there might be a hint not in this 5.5 hour video that I don’t remember, idk) and I think it’s kinda sweet anyway—revisits the Zora king’s grave, and meets the Zora prince there. He says his mother came to him in a dream, and asks her if she’s Maia, the hero who helped him.

He thanks her, and says if there’s anything he can to do to help, just ask.

So she shows him the sketch of the giant she was given, and asks if he knows what or where this thing is. He tells her that the important detail is the red fish—a rare specimen only found in Zora’s Domain… and it feeds on a rare kind of coral, and can only be caught with that kind of coral as bait… luckily his earring is made of that (that his mom gave him. ouch), and he’d like to give it to Maia as thanks!

(Another Hero’s Shade encounter. Cool. This one is a dAnGeRoUs skill that could be fatal if done incorrectly apparently! Still love the idea of Maia having this weird mentor that’s like her older self but dead in a way?? And like she’s kinda proud when the hero says “Impressive.”)

Finally Maia meets the giant, holding a huge fish—but she’s friendly! A big yeti boi. Maia tells her she’s looking for a mirror, and she’s like well you’re in luck!

And Maia gets an idea to _surf down the mountain_ on a chip of ice. Presumably with her shadow going “MAIA NO” while she goes “MAIA YES”

(Yes I know he was telling her to jump off a waterfall a while ago but he knew she'd be fine then, because video game logic is "if you fall long way but water, you're fine". This is fucking skating on a fragile piece of ice down crazy loops and ramps that like--did someone DESIGN this? Did the yeti grow the mountain like this? What the fuck. This seems intentional.)

Okay, I’m gonna kinda do a quick summary of Snowpeak Mansion, focused on the yetis (who I have made gay, because fuck you). This is one of the best dungeons in the game—a snowy mansion? Amazing. But we’re talking about story, not gameplay or design, so… Yetis!

Okay, they’re not, but the yetis have BIG Malec energy tbh. Not so much in looks but like in the sense of their cute af relationship. (Also, although I’m not giving them sh counterparts, I am making them gay because I fucking said so and you can’t stop me. They’re wives now.)

The fluff yeti is sick. So the buff yeti is making her soup. I believe this is also why she was stealing fish—for the soup. Maia tries to get her to tell you where the mirror shard is, but every time she directs her to a new place in the mansion and she goes through more puzzles to get to it, she only find another ingredient for the soup. And when she goes back like hey what the fuck, she shoves Maia over (with an enthusiastic pat on the back) and puts it in the soup. (Maia does get free samples, though, and it’s pretty good.)

They’re more than willing to help, but like… buff yeti’s soup for her wife takes priority.

Eventually the yeti finishes her soup and brings it to her sick wife… only for Maia to learn that the yeti’s wife isn’t sick. (Although she’d suspected when she’d said that bad things happened when they found the mirror—more monsters, and she’d gotten sick.) She’s been affected by the mirror shard, and as she prepares to hand it over, it takes fully ahold and she becomes the next boss.

Maia… doesn’t feel great fighting her, but she’s encased in enough ice that she’s hoping she’ll be fine when she gets the shard from her. (Also she got the ball and chain, which I didn't mention earlier, which can like, smash through ice and shit. It's literally like as big as her she must be very fucking strong to carry it. buff Maia rights?)

And when she does smash through all the ice and defeat her, the buff yeti pushes her way in, knocking Maia over in her haste and hugging her wife tightly and it’s _supremely_ cute. (“Who needs the mirror? I’ve got you, my love.”) I’m sure there’s a way to work Maiaphael fluff into this.

Honestly, tho. Imagine Maia bringing the yeti ingredients for her soup and by the second time she knows this is gonna keep happening but honestly she’s helping her make soup for her sick wife, there are worse things to do. It’s just so fucking cute, y’all.

(Gameplay standpoint: hearts pop out of them that you can actually pick up, and so does the heart container. Very fucking cute.)

* * *

Now onto yet another temple in a deep forest holding a sacred power that Maia is tasked with finding. Crossing a bridge with the help of a golden chicken—sorry, Cucco.

A fucking sparkling gold rooster. (One given to Maia by Luke, who is here. Luke has a golden rooster. Amazing. I forgot Rusl did this when I made Luke Rusl.)

 _This is my life now,_ Maia thinks, clutching a fucking golden cucco trailing glitter and using it to glide across deep gaps.

And so.. as I said, another temple, another puzzle to get in. Great. (Also… you know, in game Midna is still hiding in Link’s shadow, but when they’re alone I like to imagine that Raphael is floating alongside Maia??? They can talk as they walk/float. It’s sweet.)

More Sacred Grove doll people chasing (yes, I know, Skull Kid) and eventually…

Maia opens the way with her sword (there’s a little plinth—convenient!) but when she crosses the threshold of the door she’s transported into seemingly another time or another realm, into a great temple (with another plinth!)—the Temple of Time.

Out runs Ooccoo from Maia’s.. inventory? Man, I forgot to mention that creepy little thing didn’t I. I’ll put it in the tidbits. She’s a creepy little bird thing with a human face and tiny little…look it’s weird. Normally she lets you exit a dungeon but as the Temple of Time eventually leads you to a place called the City in the Sky, which Oocca (the people not the individual) built, I guess she was excited to return.

The Ooccoo asks Maia to help her find where she’s been trying to go—the City in the Sky, like I said. But first they gotta find something in the temple.

After fighting a huge scary knight—a Darknut. After defeating a towering knight way taller than her, Maia gets the Dominion Rod, which is what Ooccoo wanted her to find. It is used to control statues for puzzles and shit.

More puzzles, new boss (twilight arachanid, Armogohma, a huge terrifying spider that is probably Maia’s least favorite huge monster she’s fought yet), and another mirror shard.

* * *

The last shard: in the sky, likely where Ooccoo is trying to go.

But first time to restore Ilia/Clary’s memory, because I love that plotline so much. Would it be bad to just cut it? Or something? Fuck.

Ooccoo does something to the Dominion Rod, talking about restoring magic to it… so now gotta look for a way to do that.

Maia returns to the village to find Ilia/Clary might get her memory back, AND by complete luck a researcher studying the sky is here and needs a “rod from the heavens”. Now I wonder what that could be.

* * *

So you’ve got to take Renado’s letter to Telma to get her memory back. You can talk to llia/Clary who was saved by someone who talked about the dominion rod but WHO? If only she had her memories back. “Oh, hey Maia, sorry that a COMPLETE STRANGER LIKE YOURSELF got caught up in my mess” ouch

It’s a whole thing. Now Maia’s got to go get her friend’s memory back for both personal reasons and hero reasons.

Again, I imagine where it was requited or not—actually. Perhaps to make this work… Ok, so they were lowkey a thing when they were younger, instead of it being a sort of “younger girl has crush on older one” but now Maia’s over it, even if Clary had retained her crush a little—not in a cruel way or anything, like Maia hasn’t been rejecting her while Clary pines, there’s just a lingering sort of vague pining borne from Your First Crush you know? (yes I’ve completely changed my mind on how their story works, what about it?)—the point is, there was a thing there, or had been, and Raphael, who may or may not be developing feelings, isn’t jealous persay, but like. just a teensy bit. He knows it’s irrational and is saying absolutely nothing, but it’s kind of there. He’s probably in denial, actually, because what no he doesn’t like this—this stupid beautiful (I say beautiful but I mean like… as a person, you know? Obviously Raphael is asexual so it’s not like he’s like “im attracted to her” but like yeah she’s aesthetically pleasing—and coming from me she is beautiful inside and out—but it’s like… she’s a beautiful _person_ you know? Wanna be clear I don’t mean it in an attraction way tho) wolf girl who’s really nice and called them _friends_ and does silly things like surf down mountains but is also so incredibly strong, and cooks well even on the road, and cares about her family and those she’s decided to love and protect so much, who’s sweet and soft and strong and brave and courageous---no he doesn’t like her at all. What. Ridiculous. They’re not even—they’re barely—well, they’re just friends. That’s all.

But like… he talks to her on the way to Telma’s. Offers to listen if she wants to vent about Clary (I guess I’ve decided it’s Clary?) and what’s going on, because it must be rough, and Maia’s like yeah I’m sure it’s much worse than what you’re going through, kinda angry at herself for being upset, but Raphael’s like it’s not a competition, and anyway I might point out on top of all of this you’ve lost your home, been turned into a fucking wolf multiple times, put in danger over and over and dragged all over the land on crazy dangerous adventures, you’re going through more than just this, this is just another awful straw on the camel’s back—wolf’s back, she corrects, laughing slightly through repressed tears, and like… they just open up a little bit to each other on that walk?

In hopes that she’ll feel safe enough to open up, too, Raphael shares first—his feelings on Magnus’s sacrifice, how much it hurt that he’s gone and it feels like it’s his fault, how much he hates Camille for it…

(He doesn’t tell her that if they defeat Camille, lift the curse keeping him like this, the curse placed on him for being the true heir, then maybe, just _maybe_ he could bring Magnus back—it’s a fool’s hope, and there’s too much to explain, and he feels guilty keeping secrets but this is not time for that kind of confession.)

And Maia looks surprised, but soft, comforts him, too, you know, puts an arm around him, and she admits that yeah, seeing Clary look at her with no recognition hurts. Even though she no longer feels anything for her Like That, Clary was still someone she’d known a long time, a close friend, and seeing her just… not know Maia? Hurt.

…So they get to the bar, and Raphael ducks into her shadow, and Maia shows Telma the letter, who agrees to help restore Clary’s memory. She gives a letter back… one that basically blackmails the town doctor into helping. Nice. We stan Telma.

(On the way back they turn to happier stories—Raphael telling her about his home, a little, and about Magnus, the happy memories, and she in turn tells him about the village and Clary and the kids and Luke…)

* * *

The doctor they're blackmailing mentions something about a wooden carving belonging to Clary he took… that stinks because of medicine on it and got stolen—wonder if a wolf nose could track it down? The answer is yes.

They give it to Clary and she magically remembers things! Sort of. A Goron helps.

They need to go to a Hidden Village next, where the people associated with the symbols on the carving once lived (That’d be the Sheikah).

There’s some badass combat stuff, then you meet the last Sheikah, and Clary’s savior—she gives you Clary’s charm, something she had on her, and once brought to her it just magically restores her entire memory and she remembers you.

The kids are watching raptly from the window as they’re reunited. Claia hug!

Going back to Impaz, the last Sheikah, she sees Maia’s Dominion Rod and is like “oh sweet you’re the messenger from the heavens” and gives Maia an old sky book.

The researcher I mentioned earlier is in the basement interested in an old statue. I’m sure that won’t be relevant later.

* * *

And now, the final Hero’s Shade encounter—woohoo! The Ultimate Technique, Only Able To Be Learned By The True Hero. (It’s spinning. Greatly.)

Hey, let’s talk about this for a moment. Maia is the _chosen hero._ I imagine this hits her at some point—probably sooner, but I mean, maybe she’s been sort of coasting, and hearing this (again GHOST OF HER PAST SELF????) tell her only the true hero can learn this and she does it pretty easily, and it’s like… she’s got the sacred sword, she can learn this skill only available to the true hero… she’s like… _the fucking chosen one._

Maia, farmhand from a small village, suddenly being hit with the fact she’s literally the chosen one: hm. hm. hm

Now finally, Maia goes to speak to the researcher! Now when this guy talks about the Oocca, Link’s just sort of like -_- but Maia like, actually talks, so maybe she would be like “oh yeah I’ve met those lol” and he’s like “HM?”

The researcher translates a little riddle, which has to do with the Dominion Rod, and the Maia gives him the sky book (I think that… I may have gotten the order slightly fucked here, but it’s fine) and he tells you about various owl statues that have something to do with this mystery.

The incantation the researcher reads from the book restores the Dominion Rod with magic. Presumably with the Dominion Rod being able to move the statues, this will be significant.

* * *

Also I know it’s a hero’s quest, but like… why not tell the researcher you’ve got the Dominion Rod and stuff? Poor guy’s been researching it his whole life, told you where the statues are for free and restored the rod’s power, and you’re just like “see ya later lmao” honestly let the poor man know what’s going on.

This might give you a companion to the City in the Sky if he insists on trying to accompany you, but given he has no clawshot he can stay at the beginning and fanboy desperately over everything he sees. Making this a sh character might make it considerably more funny and interesting, but I’m not sure wh--SIMON.

Fucking nerd who can be a good friend to Maia and just getting excited about everything while Raphael snarks like just… Saiaphael brotp for a while :’)

simon, geeking out over some carvings:

raphael, in maia's shadow: nerd

simon: did your. did your shadow just talk

maia: yeah he does that sometimes

simon: HE??

You know my brain just went “…..saiaphael otp?” quietly but honestly it doesn’t work so I’m gonna ignore that. I mean, maybe lightly implied very far future potential, but like… not as a thing bc no I can’t try and add that okay it’s too complicated

But either way, Simon just being a brief companion here like “okay, you’re a chosen hero, you’ve got they key to my SPECIAL INTEREST/LIFE WORK’S in your hand, and you have a little twilight dude in your shadow. Cool. I just wanna learn more about these statues, and the sky”

(The poor guy literally is like “that incantation didn’t do anything on any of the statues ☹ I wonder what it does” JUST TELL HIM)

(HE JUST KEEPS RUNNING INTO NEW PROBLEMS AND YOU COULD SO EASILY SHOW HIM WHAT’S UP??? HE’S SO SAD AND FRUSTURATED??)

I love that.

Anyway.

* * *

Maia opens a secret passage to a cannon using the dominion rod and Simon, instead of being like “what” bc he wasnt there actually sees this because I like him fuck this.

And it leads. TO A HUGE FUCKING CANNON.

GUESS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET TO THE CITY IN THE SKY.

Originally Midna refuses to warp it to a location it could be used in front of him but again, fuck that, Raphael’s just like “lmao wanna give this guy a show” and SIMON GETS TO COME WITH THEM.

Anyway Maia warps it back to that weirdly dressed cannon guy from earlier, and you can get passage to the City in the Sky.

Also, Maia drags Simon to this fucking cannon and he’s like “………the way to the city in the sky….is a cannon?” and she’s like “It’ll be fun :D” and he’s like… anything for research

Cannon guy rebuilds the cannon over several days (for a price) and during that time we just get some Saiaphael brotp??? Hanging out??? Simon is… mildly surprised to say the least that Maia is some sort of chosen hero, and she’s got a dude in her shadow, but they’re both good company and actually listen to his long nerdy rambles (even if Raphael pretends not to, he’ll ask a question that gives him away) and it’s just great??

And like they also like him, he's endearing and sweet and kind of in awe of them?? But he treats them like they're normal (like with the Ooccoo later he is just not easily phased) and it's nice.

And then Maia, Raphael, Simon, and the Ooccoo are all launched into the sky. Simon sees the Ooccoo and is like OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS FOR Y—[gets launched into the sky]

So they land in the pool of water at the entrance and they’re surrounded by Ooccoo and Simon is freaking out (in a good way) and they tell Maia there’s a dragon and Simon is like torn between staring at EVERYTHNG and being like “oh my god you’re so COOL you’re gonna go fight a DRAGON”

Okay so Simon can’t really get around the City in the Sky without wings or a clawshot, although some Ooccoo might be willing to help he can only go so far, so I’m picturing him near the beginning somewhere, just talking excitedly with Oocca, scribbling things in his notebook, exchanging stories with them and stuff??? It’s sweet. Also somehow he’s not offput by their appearance at all. This is nice for the Oocca, who are used to people freaking out a little.

He is far too focused on not passing out as he is LIVING THE DREAM and all thanks to a cute girl and her weirdly also cute shadow friend???

* * *

Anyway Maia has to go through some puzzles (she is getting used to puzzles) and also a fight with a winged thingy, gets another clawshot—not for Simon sadly, she’ll need both to get around properly—and proceeds deeper into the City. The stupid city designed for stupid bird things. Maia is… glad she’s not afraid of heights. ~~Anymore.~~

Time to fight a dragon. 

(Twilit dragon Argorok, specifically.)

(You fight it by hanging onto its tail and weighing it down with iron boots—which? Again, sounds terrifying when you’re not a video game character.

Maia really is so courageous,,,,we stan)

So after defeating that thing and getting the final mirror shard…

Also foreshadowing (for the regular game, at least—): Raphael points out that only the true leader of the twili could shatter the Mirror of Twilight… but Camille could only break it into shards and scatter them.

It’s proof she’s not meant to be queen.

(Which… Raphael lowkey keeps reassuring himself of. She isn’t the true ruler. He is.

…and if he feels guilty about not telling Maia this, well… she doesn’t really need to know, does she?

~~He still feels guilty.)~~

* * *

They leave the City in the Sky—you’re supposed to use the Clawshot, but I imagine you can climb in there, so Simon stays a little while to study more but thanks Maia for getting him here.

(Mayhaps they part ways with a kiss on the cheek—for Maia…. And maybe Raphael too lol. Im a slut for Saia, even in small ways, but Saphael can be cute if not… Like That)

So they return to the Mirror of Twilight, and restore it to its former glory… opening the portal to the twilight.

Raphael tells Maia, softly, as he looks into the portal to his home, that twilight isn’t evil. It has its own serene beauty, its own softness, and bathed in that light, his people were pure and gentle… but Camille invaded and perverted that.

The ghosts of the sages appear and admit it was their fault, that they sent her there, overestimated their own power…

And ask him for forgiveness… ask for the forgiveness of the Twilight Prince.

Raphael closes his eyes, wincing in guilt, and Maia turns in shock.

Raphael is surprised they know his true identity, but sighing, says that as a ruler who fled his people, he’s hardly qualified to forgive them.

Like Magnus, he tried to hold Camille back, but she was so strong that she cursed him into this form, and she fled, weakened. But he used her piece of the fused shadow as a helmet and swore he’d find the others and overthrow her.

He says that his people have long believed that a hero would appear one day as a divine beast—and when he saw her that day, becoming a wolf and driving away a shadow beast with divine power—he hoped that she’d be the one to save his people.

That’s why he’d tried to recruit her—he hadn’t cared about Maia, then, and he only really cared about the world of light for Magnus’s sake. He just wanted to save his own people.

But spending time with Maia, growing closer with her, seeing more of the world of light, seeing how selflessly they acted, particularly Maia and Magnus, the sacrifices they made, and just… seeing how full of life the world of light _was,_ how the people weren’t so different from his own… made him realize he didn’t want this world to suffer, either.

(I mean, he never wanted that, he just felt his people had to come first--but now he sees that... he can't do that, as much as he wants to.) 

How even if he’d been using Maia at first, desperate to save his people from Camille… he cared about her now more than just as a hero.

Maia… gets it. But also it still hurts. That he kept this secret so long, that he really had only helped her for his own goals—although they weren’t necessarily selfish ones.

He says that from the bottom of his heart he knew he had to save both worlds now. He cared about both worlds. He cared about her. (Those two things do not cause each other. He cares for her because it’s her, and he cares for her world not just because of her but because of everyone they’ve met—Simon, Magnus, even just random people like Renado and Telma, so willing to help.)

Maia feels kind of betrayed—but she also understands, which also makes it worse.

And Raphael says that if they defeat Camille, her curse will dissolve, and he may even be able to revive Magnus. It’s a chance he’s clung to desperately, with no idea if it’ll actually work.

So they must forge onward into the portal… one last chance to defeat Camille.

And instead of pulling a Link and just smiling while Midna ducks back into his shadow they actually TALK (I wanna be clear that I know some people like, headcanon Link as mute or selectively mute, and that’s totally valid, but the way I see it he does talk with dialogue options it’s just like, not shown, because you know “empty shell for projection player character”, but because of this we still don’t really see communication between the characters and while I get this for a game, it doesn’t work for a story, which is why I jokingly criticize him never TALKING to people) and like… Maia forgives him, you know, but that doesn’t mean everything’s immediately a-okay, either.

He didn’t really do anything that wrong, but it’s definitely still like… it doesn’t feel great. She’s opened up about a lot of stuff to him (mayhaps even Jordan, although again, I’m not making that canon in this AU, it’s just sort of a suggestion) and he’d kept such a huge secret… even if for kinda understandable reasons.

* * *

So they go through the portal… To Raphael’s home, the Twilight Realm.

Raphael hides in her shadow, and asks her to keep him hidden. He doesn’t want to disappoint his people with their only help being a “hideous little imp”, nor face them as a leader who ran away. (To get help, but like, he still blames himself, much like how Magnus blamed himself for surrendering even with no better option.)

He… apologizes. But Maia can’t find it in herself to mind. She gets it.

He does come out to stop her from attacking the shadow beasts they see everywhere—but they aren’t the corrupted red of Camille’s followers, instead a peaceful green similar to the swirling runes on Raphael’s skin—they’re his people, even though they look different, and they won’t attack.

He’s horrified at what Camille’s done, but there’s nothing to do about it yet.

Now here comes the next sort of temple (a hologram of Camille appears sending monsters after them and that’s a thing but Maia beats them all back and attacks the Camille hologram and defeats it until she throws a fit and explodes into scary darkness clouds that she… decides not to go into.) and then we’re introduced to one of the creepiest things in the game.

First, we see the Sol: a little orb that powers the Twilight Realm much like the sun. It Is held by a black stone hand.

 _Fuck_ that hand.

As long as you carry the Sol, the darkness can’t touch you, and it could cure the twili back at the beginning! So Maia takes it from the hand, and there’s a series of puzzles where the orb can raise stairs and the like.

But that fucking hands glows ominous red and slowly, steadily creeps towards you to get it back. I hate that thing.

Like it's just so _creepy._ It just steadily creeps forward, never faltering, never failing, never stopping, like fucking death stalking you and never quickening his pace, calm and knowing he'll get you eventually, he always does.

Anyway, Maia can use it to heal some of the corrupted twili, and place it in one of two gaps… and unlock the way to the second Sol (with more puzzles and that creepy hand).

Get both of them and it imbues Maia’s sword with a light that can literally cut through darkness, transferring the Sol’s power to the sword. How does it power the world when Maia leaves? No idea. Maybe the Sol power goes back into the orbs.

Anyway. Now it’s time to face Camille.

* * *

It’s worth noting in the original game, this is is not the final battle. After all, Zant is merely a puppet for Ganondorf, throwing childish tantrums, unable to even come up with his own boss fight patterns as he stomps up and down like a child.

Now how to resolve this? Replace this battle with another—a minion, or an ally of Camille, or simply have her retreat when defeated back to the world of the light?

Camille is not Zant, despite her role as usurper. She is not throwing childish tantrums and literally slamming her fists against the floor until he’s taken control of by a higher evil.

She’s cold, calculating, cruel. She is far more equal to Ganondorf than to Zant.

So perhaps she’s simply not there. Perhaps it is a minion she’s created to face them, ready for them even now.

Or perhaps when she’s defeated, like Zant, it is revealed she cannot die while she holds her horrific power, laughing as Raphael rips her heart out of her chest and she simply keeps coming back, his curse refusing to lift as she refuses to die.

* * *

Maybe… horrifically, I could even move the puppet Zelda fight to here. Oh, actually that really hurts. It’s a taunt, that she not only knew they were coming, but is now using the dead(??) body of his friend, pale and limp and horrifically dancing to her tune like a puppet, fighting them, Raphael unable to hurt him and Maia reluctant but willing if it means stopping Camille.

She’s sitting on her throne, smug and cruel and protected as she has Magnus, dead eyed and limp, fighting them like he’s pulled along on strings. First, just suspended over them limply, eyes closed, as they talk, but when they challenge her, she laughs and sends dark power towards him—Raphael tries to shield him with his body, but it goes straight through him and into Magnus, jerking his body painfully until his eyes fly open, glowing, his face in a dead and cold expression so unlike him…. He could do nothing to protect him, trying to help him but being unable to as dark lines overtook his skin and he outstretched an arm to throw Raphael away, starting towards Maia with an intent to fight, Camille speaking through his mouth as he begins to throw balls of lightning at her.

Maia fights the best she can, wishing she could avoid hurting Magnus and wondering if he’s already gone… Sometimes he lunges as if pulled along by the sword, so horrifyingly weak… But after weakening Camille and even Magnus, sending enough of the lightning back at him with her sword… sending electricity through his body so he cries out in pain and the barriers fall—

Camille’s control trembles as she possesses his body, but Raphael uses the fused shadows angrily to pin him back against the twilight throne, ripping Camille from his body and leaving Magnus limp but alive, breathing, the black lines and unhealthy paleness retreating.

Camille is enraged, and _then_ we get to Raphael ripping into her and her refusing to die, laughing and laughing, when he finally rips out her heart and she vanishes, laugh echoing, he realizes if he could do that with only a fraction of his ancestor’s power… what else could he do? and retreats to Hyrule Castle, and now we can get back to the “canon” plot.

Magnus, now collapsed but breathing, is left on the floor, shaking and scared but strong as ever, forcing himself to his feet (god in canon so many times he’s been horrifically violated but he just gets back up no matter how hard his hands are shaking) and Raphael rushes to him and hugs him tight, and also idk how to incorporate it but we deserve some Magnus and Maia BROTP here. Maybe post canon.

OKAY SO. I forgot that technically he’s not supposed to wake up—due to giving Raphael “his light”—until Camille is defeated and Raphael’s curse lifted. But I wrote this and really liked it. But it actually probably makes more sense if they bring him, unconscious, back to the castle.

So they bring him back to Hyrule Castle, Raphael ripping apart the diamond of twilight encasing it with the power of the fused shadows—he has trouble controlling it at first, but seeing Magnus and Maia there, needing his help, thinking of his people, of Camille in there laughing and laughing, he clenches his fists and rips through that shit like tissue paper.

Magnus is tired and weak from his ordeal but ultimately okay after his resurrection. But given that I now remember he’s supposed to still be in Deep Sleep, they have to carry him there. Naturally, Alec’s Magnus senses are tingling and he just fucking charges out like _Magnus? MAGNUS IS HERE? YOU HAVE MAGNUS?_ and is on him like moss on a tree.

Raphael, despite not caring for Alec much, trusts him to take care of Magnus, and leaves Magnus with him to recover.

(I kind of want them to help defeat Ganon rather than the sort of “helpless princess” thing Zelda lowkey gets, but I’m unsure… for many reasons. Mostly the unconscious thing.)

* * *

Maia and Raphael fight through hordes of monsters—including King Bulblin, see my extra blurbs thing for more on that—to get, finally, to Camille in the throne room. A storm rages outside.

Normally, this is where puppet Zelda is, but I moved that, so instead, we’ve just got Camille sitting on his throne, laughing. _Welcome to my castle._

She stands with the sword they tried to execute her with.

A thought, to try and keep the gravity of this moment—every time we’ve seen her up until now, she’s been a hologram (except perhaps the last time—or maybe that’s why ripping out her heart never worked) and now they’re seeing her in person.

Not just a fraction of her power laughing at them, but Camille, terrifying and full of dark power.

 _I’ve been dying to meet you in person,_ Raphael sneers.

 _You’re a lot smaller than I thought,_ Maia says, because she is. She’s pretty short, actually. Camille snarls at her.

Raphael smirks. Fuck, he lo— _likes Maia._

Camille taunts them a little longer, talking about Raphael’s people are pathetic but so useful to him, their anguish delicious, but their power ultimately nothing compared to him. To divine power such as that held by her, a rightful queen… by Maia and Magnus, too.

(God, iconic line: “If you are a chosen wielder of divine power, as you claim…. I will risk _everything_ to deny you!” We stan Midna.) 

This does fit better when Zelda/Magnus is there, but oh well.

She taunts her for being moved by light, saying it’s amusing.

And there’s a battle.

Now, how to handle this with Puppet Zelda out of the way—dpes she immediately go full beast, or is there sparring first?

* * *

Either way, there’s some combat, and then enraged and howling she transforms into a massive beast, huge white crack down her chest and belly where the sword struck what should have been a mortal blow all those years ago, and she attacks as the Dark Beast.

After a long and hard battle, transforming smoothly between wolf and human, slashing with both her sword and her teeth, ripping into her and with Raphael’s help throwing her aside, over and over as she charges, so enraged she finally forgets her cold, stoic exterior, and then—and then.

Together they defeat Camille, once and for all.

As Raphael’s curse begins to break, light leaves him (elsewhere in the castle, Magnus lies in bed, unconscious with Alec holding his hand or tending to his wounds, and he wakes, glowing with light, and Alec basically is in tears and hugs him) and…

Camille tries to resurrect one last time, a glowing face in flames cackling, but Raphael uses the fused shadows, planning to rip her apart (and as Maia tries to stop him, to help, he teleports her away to safety and faces Camille alone)… (I realize he shouldn't be revived if the curse isn't broken and Camille's back but IT WORKS IN THE GAME IDK WHAT ELSE TO TELL YOU.)

Maia is teleported away, along with Magnus and the last remaining people in the castle (mostly Alec and a few other random guards) and—terrifyingly, they see Camille ride out, holding her sword and Raphael’s fused shadow, crumbling it in her fists, charging for them, and Magnus, awake and physically weak but standing strong anyway (perhaps leaning on Alec a little—it’s not a crime) calls upon the spirits of light to banish evil.

(I know, this feels all drawn out, but it’s what happened in the game!)

So all the light spirits Maia and Raphael helped, they come to Magnus’s aid to create light arrows to use in aiding the chosen hero in finally killing a villain who won’t fucking die.

(I honestly forgot there was another phase, I thought she fucking died there.)

* * *

So Maia and Magnus BROTP finally I guess, with Maia riding Epona and Magnus firing the light arrows like a badass as they go after Camille (and boy oh boy is Magnus worried for Raphael!! I imagine Alec, who can’t also fit on the horse, is like riding behind them shooting totally useless arrows at Camille with like, great accuracy, but it does nothing. “AM I HELPING” he shouts. Magnus gives him a thumbs up. “DOING GREAT SWEETHEART”

(It would be kinda cool if he fired the light arrows as his whole thing is archery but this is like Magnus’s _one_ badass fighting moment and also Magnus and Maia BROTP potential, so like, I’m gonna let it happen. But if you wanna imagine they’re both firing light arrows, I mean, you do you.)

They knock Camille from her horse, facing her one last time as she plans to kill Maia… but Maia stands her ground. Magnus makes to ride forward, but barriers of twilight spring up around them and he can’t. Alec catches up and is like “can we fire arrows over the twilight walls. Wait no the angle’s wrong. shit. should we throw rocks” “what if we hit maia” “what if we hit camille in her stupid head” “would it do anything tho”

Meanwhile Maia is having the most dramatic ass battle ever.

* * *

Anyway. It’s a battle of the ages. Camille and Maia, two badasses, one evil and horrible and the other just so fucking good. And then—that fucking major badass moment.

Maia drives her sword all the way through the wound where Camille should have died all those years ago, that first time.

She screams, drawn out and loud, and Maia grinds the blade deeper, and—she stands, throwing Maia off her, stumbling to her feet, sword sticking out of her chest. _Do not think this ends here,_ she says, quiet and enraged and on the verge of shrieking, but her hand glows and dims, the Triforce of Power fleeing her—and her eyes roll back and she goes limp… dead, still standing.

Dramatic as FUCK. Bitch knows how to make an exit.

(In the game, he sees Zant snap his neck to the side, and immediately dies—one theory says in lending his power to Zant, he gave up partial control of it, and when wanting to use it to resurrect himself, use _all_ of it… Zant, knowing he was used, refuses, and Ganondorf finally perishes.

But like, that doesn’t happen here, she just finally fucking succumbs to her wounds I guess. After being shot full of light arrows and stabbed right in the sore spot.)

And they’re all left standing there… Camille finally dead. Maia with her sword drawn, scuffed and bloody, Magnus leaning against Alec, standing somberly.

Raphael’s still gone…. Or is he?

* * *

The light spirits appear, and there he is, in the distance.

Maia steps forward, shocked, and Magnus gasps, and Maia runs forward to see him collapsed, and when he stands, he—looks different. Curse broken, in full human form again, albeit still with slightly different than your average human, being a twili.

They reunite— _What?_ Raphael demands, feeling self-conscious, _say something!_

(The idea of him saying the next part of that line— _What, am I so beautiful you have no words left?_ Is very funny. Not sure it works, but it’s funny.)

They hug tightly (and/or…mayhaps?? kiss???) and Magnus stumbles up with Alec, a little slower but smiling so wide, and they hug, too, Magnus tightly wrapping his arms around him and murmuring _I’m so proud of you, I’m so happy to see you again,_ into his hair, and??????? Happy endings all around

(Also later Magnus and Raphael talk—with the light he shared, for a while, they “shared a heart” and Magnus knew his suffering, and…. Oh boy can they have a sad talk about that!!)

* * *

After that, Midna eventually shatters the Mirror of Twilight to prevent this from happening again but fuck that Raphael can still come to the world of light and vice versa.

Maia can go home again, see her friends, Clary with her restored memory returning home to her parents okay with the other kids, the village overjoyed to see them all again???? and little Colin now training to be a guard,,,,, the Zora prince being watched over by the ghost of his mom, the Gorons okay and friendly with Kakariko again, Simon writing papers and maybe befriending Clary or others you know and doing more research on the Sacred Grove (as shown in the credits), King Bulblin riding peacefully in Hyrule field (again see the blurbs for details on that lol) and Hyrule recovering from the twilight, the yetis still cuddling in their mansion, Magnus being crowned and able to restore the damage done to the castle and castle town…

Just… all the places Maia and Raphael helped now thriving, Hyrule healthy again….

Friendships still thriving….. Magnus and Alec finally getting together, Magnus happy (!!!) and just???? Happy endings, y’all. For such a dark game with a depressing tone, this is a pretty uplifting ending.

And like I said I know the portal is supposed to go KA-BANG but…… just,,,,, let me have this okay

Maybe Maia becomes an explorer, visiting home often but travelling around helping people, maybe sometimes with Simon to help him stay out of trouble on his studies as he often studies dangerous things… and again FUCK Raphael going to the Twilight Realm forever, yes he has responsibilities as a ruler but Maia makes an effort to visit and maybe Raphael can visit, too, sometimes, go on adventures with her occasionally, you know?? And Raphael and Magnus can still talk, two fellow princes (kings now?) and trans icons???

Like I know that’s probably worse in a greater scheme of things, with the Twilight Realm still being open to invasion, but there’s always that risk, you know?

Come on just…. Please????? CAN I PLEASE GET A HAPPY ENDING???? PLEASE???? LET RAPHAEL AND MAIA AND MAGNUS BE HAPPY AND STILL ALL TALKING TO EACH OTHER???

God even in canon Link looks devastated to see Midna go forever, and I don’t even ship them, they’re just like…. GOOD FRIENDS AND IM SAD. (I mean I don’t _not_ ship them, but you know.)

I’m not letting Raphael get sealed away, alone, away from the friends he’s made and the hero he fell in love with???? No thank you?????

Anyway everything is fine now.

Maia and Magnus BROTP, Maybe eventual Saiaphael as they all go on adventures and Simon gets to visit the Twilight Realm and geek out over THAT, and obviously eventual proper Maiaphael with more communication and cuddles, and Malec, and AAAAAAAAAAAA

(I think it’s kinda implied Link and Ilia get together and I just… don’t like them as a couple. They’re not my hard NOTP but… like… no. I do like Claia fine, but in this case…. Maiaphael—and Saia and Saiaphael—are superior.)

AND THAT’S THE END HOLY SHIT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter? the play-by-play complete summary of twilight princess's linear story with maiaphael? mostly maia? not gonna happen with the others in the series. partially due to the nature of twilight princess's linear epic plot, but also my need to research it (haven't played the game in a long time), and also my motivations for writing this one and wanting it to be as thorough as i could manage.
> 
> honestly, i did actually write this, which i won't because it's too big of a project and i've got too many other things to do, i probably wouldn't stick this close to the plot anyway. but i kinda wanted to talk about how each thing could be like... different with maia, you know? i think i got a little bogged down in the details but it's too late to go back i watched a 5 and a half hour video and wrote this whole thing SO


	3. Structure, Gameyness, and Some Fun Plot Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some little housekeeping things, and then some fun details I either wanted to give their own section or glossed over in the overall plot.

**Structure.**

Were I writing this as a fic, it’d probably be a long multichapter fic. I’m not sure how much of the actual gameplay I would include, as it’s supposed to be a story, and saying something like “And then Maia hunted down the tears of light for the third time” isn’t really the same in the traditional medium as an interactive one. I can discuss her feelings on certain things that might not have been touched upon in the game—in fact I planned to, especially in regards to her transformation into a wolf. This could also apply to her thoughts on being the chosen hero, Raphael, Magnus, and other big plot points, or even her thoughts on how quickly she’d adapted into being a hero—going from using a wooden sword on dummies to fighting actual monsters.

**Handling of Gamey-ness.**

Beyond the things such as repetitive story points that work for a game but not a written story, things such as Heart Containers, prompts for controls, and like probably a lot of optional gameplay or just like the basics of “and then I wandered around for like three days looking for bugs to give to that little girl” or whatever, would not be included. With Heart Containers, she’d simply be naturally getting stronger with each fight, as that’s basically what Heart Containers represent anyway. Likewise she’s not going to be cutting grass to find little hearts or anything.

**Some Fun Blurbs Not Included in Other Parts**

_A Twilight Atmosphere._

One thing _Twilight Princess_ does amazingly is atmosphere. Areas infected by twilight are often visited when not in twilight as well, and the contrast is stunning. (It kind of reminds me of the Silent Trials in _Skyward Sword,_ except with an air of sadness and fear to the peace.)

The sepia tones, the trembling ghosts cowering in fear, unable to see you or interact with you… Even the guards trembling in their places, hoping no monsters find them… And the eerie, discordant music, the flecks of black shadow in the air… The atmosphere is oppressive and sad, leaving you just feeling alone and strange.

I’m not sure how this would exactly translate into a story—Maia is obviously not hearing the soundtrack, which is a big part of that. But the lighting and ghosts and I feel the overall just… _vibe_ would translate. And Maia, well. She’s familiar with some of these places. And now she sees these places she knows drenched in twilight, maybe even people she knows trapped as ghosts…

_The Ghosts of Hyrule Castle._

When you first wake up in the dungeons, you come across balls of light that, when focused on, you can use your wolf senses to see the spirit within. Raphael is ultimately outwardly dismissive of this—there’s nothing that can be done to help them right now, and they’re not suffering so much as frozen and unaware. They’re afraid, but everyone is.

But Maia feels sympathy for them, and is horrified when she first sees this. 

It's kinda sad how eventually she gets kinda numb to it... Still not like, _happy_ or okay with it, but she gets used to seeing ghosts...

_The Forest Temple._

Maia befriending a bunch of fucking monkeys tbh?? Adorable. Also that moment where you have to swing across a huge gap by going from monkey to monkey??? Terrifying!! You forget how terrifying some of this stuff would be for someone who literally became a hero like two days ago and isn’t just playing a video game. She has to trust her new furry friends she freed from all around the temple.

Also Maia and Raphael facing that fucking butt monkey. Oh my god. Why.

And like, when she first faces that huge Deku Baba? Just a big ass plant with terrifying teeth. Horrifying. And she, resourceful and smart as ever, throws an exploding plant at it. And when it eventually withers and dies. It leaves behind a key. And she stares at it. Like. Did. Did this thing. swallow a key? What the fuck.

Also again…….. facing the twilit parasite…… the first boss…. god imagine how terrifying that shit would be. You’re just a kid from a village and you’ve got your dinky little sword (actually it’s probably a decent sword as it was intended for the royal family but it also might have been ceremonial so maybe not idk) at your side that you’ve only started using on things that aren’t dummies as of a few days ago and a fucking magic boomerang you found twenty minutes ago and towering above you from poisonous waters are two huge plant heads with teeth sharp enough to kill, and a fucking monkey swings in to help and this is your life now, huh? This is your life. You just want to help those kids, and here you are, the world’s fate resting on your shoulders and on your stupid boomerang.

And then when you think you’ve got the thing the fucking main body emerges and it looks like you just pissed it off! And it’s got an eyeball on its tongue for some reason!

And when she finally defeats it, it dries out and cracks and withers and it’s kind of disturbing tbh.

_The Ooccoo._

HAHAHA THESE FUCKERS ARE TERRIFYING. With their weird little bulbous heads and feathery… tits?????? And the floating baby head that accompanies her?????? They’re not particularly important story-wise (they let you exit a dungeon when necessary) until… well, sort of in City of the Sky? But like… just imagine Maia and Raphael’s reaction to this thing. [Look at those eyes. ](https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/images/thumb/0/04/Oocca-Race.png/150px-Oocca-Race.png)

_Zora Armor._

Okay but we been knew that Maia was into marine biology. And she likes fishing, in this AU. So like… being able to breathe underwater and swim for as long as she likes???????? Amazing. It’s like a weird dream come true.

I can imagine her lowkey being like god there are advantages to being a hero like _being able to dive into lakes and rivers and see the fish and swim for as long as I like oh my god_

And in that temple??? Cool (albeit potentially fatal) jellyfish??? Huge ones??? Amazing.

And the bosses, while horrifying…. Still kinda cool for a marine biology nerd, right? Particularly the final boss of that temple.

_King Bulblin_

King Bulblin is a fucking cool boss. Mini-boss? Whatever.

He reappears over and over again. He’s the first to disrupt Maia’s world, kidnapping those kids and basically acting as her call to adventure.

And he shows up, over and over again, in epic showdown after epic showdown.

Maia faces him again and again, hacking off a horn, driving him off a bridge, and he shows up again and again. He keeps coming back for more.

And then, at the end of the story, in Hyrule Castle… Maia turns to face him one last time. At this point she’s been through a lot of shit. Each fight with him has been different as she gained more and more skill. Now she’s a fully fledged hero.

And King Bulblin… acknowledges this. He _speaks._ And when she defeats him one last time… He says, "Enough. I follow the strongest side! …that is all I have ever known.”

And he fucking leaves.

He doesn’t attack Maia again. She is the strongest now, and Camille has lost his allegiance.

(In the post credits of the game, it’s shown that he rides peacefully in Hyrule Field, horns having grown back. DAMN!)

Like???? Maia is such an icon??? The leader of the bulblins literally acknowledges her as the strongest???? She’s so fucking badass. I love her

At the beginning of the adventure he is the one, in a way, to shatter her life as she knew it. Probably the scariest monster she’d ever seen. She couldn’t fight back. Even if she’d had her wooden sword, she’d have likely been helpless to stop him.

And now, he concedes to her. Damn.

_The Chain._

This isn’t really talked about in the game, but part of wolf Link’s design throughout the whole game is a chain around his front paw from when he was first imprisoned.

I think it’s supposed to make him look badass but oh my god the symbolism and angst potential. Feeling imprisoned in her wolf form, feeling this uncomfortable metal shackle around her paw at all times, hating how it feels but being unable to get it off…

And when it finally does come off (because it will, even tho it didn’t in the game, because fuck that) it’s a Big Deal you know???

I kind of wanted to have Magnus remove it in the moment where Princess Zelda notices Link was imprisoned by seeing the chain, but I feel like that’s too early for the ANGST.

Plus I’d like Raphael to do it lowkey…. The symbolism of him helping set her free??? Amazing.

I wouldn’t mind so much Maia getting it off herself but I don’t want this to be just Maia does everything herself, no one ever helps her or protects her, she’s So Strong And Independent. I want to emphasize that she’s allowed to be protected and rescued sometimes too?? You know??? She _is_ strong but no one’s perfect and no one’s independent and powerful all the time. She supports and helps and protects Raphael, yes, but it absolutely goes both ways.

Plus it’s just kind of a sweet and potentially romantic symbolism tbh

_Raphael's Asexuality._

I'm not sure how to really naturally include this? How does this topic come up naturally on such a quest. I mean, he's definitely asexual, and it's probably brought up—whether casually, or when he and Maia are being Emotionally Vulnerable™ or first beginning to feel like they might get into a romantic relationship.

But it would and should definitely be acknowledged in the fic.

_Maia and Her Fucking Weapons???_

Y'ALL. Maia wielding all these weapons you get.... the huge fucking ball and chain, the boomerang, THE BOW AND ARROW,,,,,, god she's so badass and pretty??? but like also she can have FUN with them like that dumb fucking spinner??? god yes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also please enjoy this comedic tidbit:
> 
>  **raphael:** WHAT DO YOU HAVE?  
>  **wolf maia, dragging her sword behind her:** (growling that translates approximately to "A KNIFE!")  
>  **raphael, hair turning into a giant hand to grab it:** NOOOO!!!!!


	4. SOME EXTRAS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maiaphael rights, fluff, endgame Saiaphael, Malec, Magnus & Maia BROTP and more, all from me and @tothetrashwhereibelong, icon, who helped me write this chapter. 
> 
> Like, seriously, this chapter is at the very LEAST 80 percent them. True icon. We stan.

**MAIAPHAEL FLUFF!!!**

_More Shadow Puppets, Babey!_

I feel like at first he as maybe just doing it because he was bored. Maia was busy like, fighting a Lizalfos or climbing or something, and he was just sort of playing with shadows, but then she noticed and kinda smiled and he was like [immediately turning back into her normal shadow] What? I'm Not Doing Anything. Nothing Is Happening Here.

But gradually he started doing it on purpose to cheer her up or make her laugh (first when she's sad and then just in general because he likes making her laugh??), and like to communicate something silently or help illustrate a story he's teling...

Also picture Maia talking to someone and Raphael is in their shadow behind them just making dumb expressions and shapes and she's trying not to laugh.

And yeah like he does it to comfort her sometimes, when she's scared or doubting herself... really just pictured after a long night where like, she's been trying to defeat one of the bosses and let's pretend she can retreat if she's getting hurt to heal instead of being locked in and respawning if she dies because obviously no (maybe Raphael can teleport her out?) and she's so discouraged, she even defeat the big plant in the first dungeon the first time, why is it this one she's having so much trouble with, why isn't she _good enough,_ what kind of fucking hero is she?

And then Raphael does an elaborate shadow puppet show that just shows her little shadow (so detailed!! with like WORK put into it!!) beating the absolute SHIT out of the boss's shadow, and like he incorporates the techniques he noticed her doing and stuff so like even like say the weak spot is a big eye, because when isn't it, then he shows her specifically ripping that thing out and stabbing it and emphasizing what he saw working so not only is it just encouraging to see a little shadow Maia beat the absolute shit out of the shadow boss but also it's kinda helpful, highlighting what's been working???

_Puzzles and Shit_

I didn't talk about this enough at ALL like Maia mostly does the combat unless she's in wolf form (and god is she badass at it) but like they both help with the puzzles?? Like they'll look at these huge block puzzles like "oh fuck my life" and then go over it in their heads, bantering about how they should do what, ""arguing"" about what the best way to do it is, bouncing ideas off of each other, testing out theories, etc. and it's just so cute??

And they're both pretty damn smart so they pick these things up together, you know? 

_The Yetis_

You know how I said "huh, there could Maiaphael fluff here" and then like a CRIMINAL didn't deliver? Well HERE WE GO. 

First: Maia and Raphael like,,,, fucking hug tightly when it's all over (Raphael is like??? small imp form??? So she's like hugging him and he's the size of a fairly large teddy bear ldkgjklghfh god short Raphael rights) and then they look over at the fucking yeti wives hugging in the same tight loving way and are like..... Hm. 

(Especially as buff yeti and fluff yeti actually probably have a similar size ratio as imp!Raphael and Maia???? omg) 

Second: the yetis thanking them by pulling them into a bear hug and it's.... it's very nice?? I mean they're being smothered lowkey but it's very nice also. Really picturing Maia gets pulled in and is squished in a rather undignified way and Raphael laughs at her but he's so busy giggling that he doesn't notice the Ominous Hand Reaching For Him. So he gets pulled in too and he squirms and makes false protest but honestly it's kinda nice, especially since he's so touch starved... see the angsty touch tidbit in a bit.

_CUDDLES_

OH MY GOD HOW DID I NOT CONSIDER MAIAPHAEL CUDDLES WITH MAIA AS A BIG WOLF AND RAPHAEL CURLED ON TOP OF HER OR NESTLED INTO HER WHILE SHE'S CURLED AROUND HIM AND LIKE??? IT'S SOFT??? AND WARM??? AND HE STROKES HER FUR ABSENTMINDEDLY UNTIL THEY FALL ASLEEP??????????? 

And even when she's in human form like just... first Raphael in her shadow, they can't touch (,,,angst,,) and later when he feels awkward about it but she's like it's not any different then when I was wolf, so I don't mind--it's nice. But if you're uncomfortable... and he blurts out _no,_ because he's not, he just doesn't want to make _her_ uncomfortable, who wants to cuddle with a gross little imp--aaaaaaaaa

**ANGST? ANGST.**

God........ fuck,,,, Touch starved Raphael..... connecting this to twili culture......... to Camille and Magnus........ lêx truly is a genius 

So like.... okay, Raphael--actually both of them--are super Touch Starved. Who wants to touch an imp, after all? Who touches a wolf with anything but anger and fear? And wolves are pack animals, but all of Maia's pack... they don't know her, don't see her. (And even earlier on before her and Raphael are really friends, it should feel kinda demeaning, him riding around on her back, but it's convenient and honestly she kinda likes the touch, it reminds her of giving the kids in the village piggy back rides.)

The village was pretty touchy feely, so Maia's kinda used to that, but she has Raphael, and eventually, when she's back in human form, she can see her people again, you know?

But Raphael... not so much.

He also comes from a pretty touchy feely place, namely, the Twilight Realm. There's no sun to draw warmth from, so the people draw warmth from each other--little touches, hugs, intimacy. Touch is super important there.

(Also worth noting: this is not my expertise as I'm definitely not Latino, but Lêx also relates this to him being Latino and Latino culture and honestly they're absolutely correct and completely right.)

So he's used to all this touch, but ever since being cursed he's been... without it. Other than touch from Maia that he feels is stolen, and Magnus's gentle hands the few times Raphael saw him before--well.

He doesn't really get touched much.

Also I'm thinking maybe after the yetis Maia really notices his reaction and is like you kno,,,, if you want hug,,, cuddle,,, I'm down

And he may or may not confess how he's so used to casual touch at home, kinda expecting her to laugh even tho he knows she's far too kind to, but he's surprised when she confesses she feels the same way, that she misses the way she casually touched and interacted with the other people in her village.

So they slowly grow more comfortable touching each other casually and like,,,, giving each other physical affection,,,,,, aaaAAAAA 

And like??? Applying this to Magnus and Raphael??? Magnus is touch starved for a whole different reasons (love how all three of my main characters are touch starved, lonely, and trans??? wow i wonder what i could be projecting here) namely being a prince who has to be strong all the time, and like, he's MORE than happy to be touchy and affectionate with his twili friends. In the name of diplomacy of course. What else. Obviously. For friendship and diplomacy and no other reasons like wanting to melt any time anyone touched him with any sort of affection. 

Also okay to move back to angst. Further into it anyway.

Touch is super important and intimate among the twili, which makes Camille's perversion of it all the worse. She touches people without their consent (and consent is a big part of that culture too) and is more than okay with making people uncomfortable. 

Like in the Midna's Lament scene, where she asks for Raphael's power, all creepy and strange... she strokes his hair, puts fingers on his chin and makes him look up at her, and is generally all creepy as hell...

This particularly applies to Magnus and Camille. Both before the story happens--Magnus knows touch is important to the twili, of course he does, so when she makes him a little uncomfortable... maybe touching him when he doesn't want to be touched, or in places he isn't comfortable with her touching... he sort of... lets it happen, doesn't push it as long as she doesn't, because... well... touch is important to them, right? He doesn't want to deny her that, and anyway... shouldn't he _like_ it? He likes it with Raphael ~~although he never touches Magnus in ways that are uncomfortable~~ and he generally loves to be touched, so why should this bother him? He should be grateful.

AND THEN AFTERWARDS..... god.....

_Let's Talk About the Puppet Zelda Scene Again_

God this shit was so violating and horrible. After all the ways she abused and manipulated him, now she's literally using his body, controlling him and violating him in a horrific manner, making him feel helpless in the absolute worst way possible....

And like.... _touching_ him, perverting those twili traditions of warmth and affection and _consent_ in ways that disgust Raphael to watch on multiple levels. Casually stroking his hair like _isn't he pretty?_ or touching his arms, touching his chest (particularly Bad bc transphobia vibes) and even his ass, teasing that he's hot and that's one thing she misses and again it's rapey and gross??? Also.... his HANDS much like my headcanons about warlocks in canon hands are particularly intimate, _especially_ with Magnus as that's where the Triforce is, where he channels his power, and she touches them like they belong to her and it's just so Wrong to look at, especially with the added perspective of someone who understands the culture she's specifically perverting to do this. It's just a huge violation and she not only knows this but thrives in it, loves the power and domination it gives her...

Also for an 11/10 A+ angst addition from Lêx (Again a lot of this is from them!!! They're so smart!!!!): Raphael tells her to get away, to get off of him, leave him alone, and she just tilts her head, as terrifying and casual as ever, still smiling like always with her blood red lips, and says _Why?_ because what can she do that's worse? _You already stole his light away. He's just a broken toy now, nice and empty for me to play with. You broke him. I'm just playing with him. I can't do anything more to him._

Obviously that's not true, but fuck if it doesn't hit Raphael like a punch to the gut. 

And like let's specifically just [patrick voice] take the headcanon (from canonverse) and push it over here. 

I've always liked the headcanon that for warlocks hands are sensitive. Intimate. Like, you channel your magic (which is deeply personal and connected to your fucking soul) and power through your hands. (Which adds a whole new faint-worthy layer to the sharing strength scene in 1x06.) So here...

I think in Legend of Zelda for the most part magic is either like, not presented really as magic in the traditional sense (Sheikah tech, the wind boomerang, various tools and rods and potions Link uses) like with fireballs and whooshing and using your hands to beam light or whatever, or it's specifically Triforce related, or it's evil. Most "sorcerers" we meet are evil. Ganondorf himself is one.

But like, also fuck that. Magic is cool as hell, why should Ganondorf get a monopoly on it? 

Also it totally makes sense to say the Hylian Royal Family could have magic in their bloodline, whether it's Triforce related or not.

So basically I'm transferring that warlock culture feels of "hands being intimate and how you channel power/strength/magic" to Magnus in this AU. (It would also apply to the twili, especially as they're much more steeped in magic than Hylians are, even in canon? What with them being descendants of rebellious magic users, and Midna consistently using magic and stuff. It might like, manifest in different ways, but the concept of hands being an intimate place to touch and the easiest way to channel power would still be there.)

So like....... Camille touching Magnus's hands (while he's all in Puppet Zelda mode) even like as her "power" triforce glows, his is still visible (or??? did he give his triforce to Raphael?? Is that what Zelda did?? They just said something about light so it's really unclear but I don't think you can like.. DO that. You can share that kind of power--hence Ganondorf and Zant--but not like literally give it away right?? Fuck I don't know).

Anyway the point is she's touching his hands and like, they're limp and not moving gracefully like they always do (because ~~cough cough ADHD MAGNUS~~ he's so full of life, making gestures and magic constantly flitting around his fingers) and she's just...... _touching_ him. Stroking his palms or fingers in a way that's just bone-chilling for someone who _knows_ and Raphael is disgusted and can't stop himself from screaming at her to leave him alone (and Maia doesn't _get it_ in the same way but even she knows this is _wrong)_ and she laughs, taunting him, because it's so intimate and forbidden because it's how you channel strength, and light, and magic, and he had none, did he? Who's fault was that? Who already violated him? She couldn't violate him that way because _Raphael already had._

Again this is obviously false as hell but it still punches Raphael in the throat and leaves him feeling sick and furious. 

ALSO HEY I FORGOT THIS PART BUT LÊX REMINDED ME. Okay so honestly, it would make more sense if Magnus wasn't conscious. If he was "gone" or "dead". But also consider: I like pain. 

So like......he's fucking aware, even if it's hazy and hard to hold on to, on some level he can feel her touching him, feel his body moving without his consent, feel his own magic turned against him by someone he actually likes (he doesn't know Maia that well but he does like her, and like, Raphael is like, there, and he doesn't know if he's helping but it makes sense if he is and it hurts so much Raphael might be hurting him even though he knows ~~he deserves it~~ that they don't have a choice, and how it must hurt Raphael to see him like this--) and just feel _all of it._ And he can't move, can't speak, can only move with Camille's intent, feel his lips move as she speaks through his lips, can feel her touching him and hear Raphael scream at her to stop... hear her cruel words to him, and blame himself for being so damn weak that even his sacrifice was turned against the people he loved, that even now she could violate him so easily and he was weak enough to let it happen.

And even when it's over and he collapses like a marionette with the strings cut he's just trapped in his body, unable to move... (When he originally sacrificed himself his body dissolved into light so idk how the fuck he has a physical form now but maybe that's why he's conscious--they do say that their "hearts and souls were one" implying his soul/consciousness could have gone into Raphael but that sounds way too complicated and like it would have more consequences than "can now walk in sunlight safely" so like..... idk his body and soul/mind are there, but locked inside, and his "light" and magic and like ability all went to Raphael. Or whatever.) 

But anyway when it's over he can still feel it all, and when Alec carries him (bridal style??) to safety and strokes his hair and kisses his forehead and begs him quietly to please, please wake up, he can feel it all and it's both heartbreaking (it's _his fault_ Alec is hurting like this) and kinda heartwarming (Alec really cares, really loves him, and his touch is so comforting and makes him feel safe and happy, especially after Camille had touched him--his gentle loving touch washes away her cold sharp hands and leaves him relaxed, finally feeling safe.... AAAAAAAAAA) 

**LET'S GET BACK TO FLUFF AHAHAHA**

_Malec!!!!!!!! CUDDLES!!!_

I'm still a slut for Malec, folks! And like... in another context that touch..... ok look I love comparing Alec to Camille and like showing that sharp contrast???? The visceral differences in how he touches Magnus and how she did. How he asks for consent, makes sure Magnus is comfortable, never pushes him...

And when he touches Magnus's hands, strokes them gently and lovingly, it's not only very comfortable and willing on Magnus's part, but like.... it's just so _different???_ And when Alec holds him down (wink wink), Big Hands gently closed around his wrists and pinning him,,,, Magnus never actually feels trapped? Just loved, and safe???? Even Alec touching his chest (when Magnus WANTS him to and FEELS COMFORTABLE WITH IT) is so nice, and it never feels violating or weird and any time he might even get uncomfortable, Alec either notices and backs off, or backs off if told to (although I don't think he'd often need to be told to, no one's perfect and notices literally everything you know?) but like it never goes far, he never makes Magnus actually feel uncomfortable or bad????

And like Alec holding him close, helping him feel okay with touch again, okay with being vulnerable and trusting and not being hurt for it????? AAAAAAAAA

_ALSO!!! MAGNUS & RAPHAEL CUDDLES!!!!!!!_

Lêx: and to revive him, raphael holds magnus's hand tenderly and lovingly and asks him to please come back, _please,_ this light raphael has is _his_ and belongs to him and the world is better off with him in it,

me, sobbing: YES

Like it's not just Alec that helps Magnus with touch??? He and Raphael help each other heal too???

And while I'm not sure how to smoothly integrate that into plot, honestly this is a not!fic anyway who fucking CARES.

Magnus and Raphael cuddling?????? Also not sure how this would work but honestly Magnus sandwiched between Raphael and Alec, and Raphael between Magnus and Maia?? Sort of a linear cuddle pile???? Let it happen please. Weird double dates in Hyrule y'all 

alec, literally a normal palace guard: (somehow in a cuddle pile with two kings and a chosen hero) hm 

_MORE FUCKING CUDDLES_

Y'ALL WE NEED MORE NON WOLF CUDDLES I LOVE WOLF CUDDLES BUT WE NEED MORE CUDDLES [sirens going off] CUDDLES!!!!!!!!!! W E N EED M ROE!!!! 

Like??? I'm really imagining [this beautiful fanart](https://thesorrowoflizards.tumblr.com/post/623969530240204800/fujifingerz-2-bros-just-nappin) by @fujifingerz like just.... Maia sleeping slumped against a tree or an old wall in a ruin, arm sort of loosely wrapped around Raphael (smol Raphael rights!!!) whos kinda curled in her embrace, turned towards her and snuggling into her side??????? The scale is kinda awkward as he's like the size of a large teddy bear but honestly it's pretty comfortable??? Especially for him he's like mmm pillow :)) 

AND POST CANON CUDDLES WHEN RAPHAEL IS BACK TO FULL SIZE INSTEAD OF FUN SIZE. Snack size Raphael is cute for cuddles but also they deserve literally just like cuddled on a couch (Legend of Zelda has couches!! I remember bc you stole a sword off one) and all tangled up in each other like maybe Maia on top of him (since before he was Too Smol for that) and like cuddled with her head on his chest even tho he's shorter than her (idk if that's canon just short Raphael rights tbh) and it's CUTE AS HELL.

ALSO Saiaphael cuddle piles..... and i dont remember where I mentioned it but weird cuddle piles with like Alec hugging Magnus who's hugging Raphael who's hugging Maia???? and Maia's hugging Raphael while Raphael's hugging Magnus who's hugging Alec and so on like they're all tangled up with each other and what the hell Simon's like probably half squished between Maia and Raphael but he's like in their laps so all three of them are still touching ldgjdfklgjdlfkgjdfg Alec's the only cis person there oops 

**BACK TO ANGST JUST FOR A MOMENT**

_Angsty Maiaphael cuddles.... @tothetrashwhereibelong is an absolute genius_

God after Magnus's death, I talked about how Raphael was just... quiet. He's depressed and just sad and for the first time in a long while he doesn't want to cuddle with her when they stop to rest because he doesn't think he deserves it (!!! ouch) and instead of lying down cuddled with her (wolf form or not) like he normally would or lying on top of her curled up he just moves away, curled up in a little ball, kind of cold but he doesn't _deserve_ comfort, Magnus is dead and it's his fault... 

But Maia slowly moves over to be closer to him, then again slowly and carefully pulled him between her paws,, Wolf Cuddlin,, and she's being deliberately slow so he can pull away any time he wants but trying to be like _please accept the cuddles,_ and he does, because he needs it even if he doesn't think he deserves it and he can't ask for it but he can let himself be pulled into it..... and she BRINGS HIM CLOSE AND KINDA TUCKS HIM UNDER HER CHIN AAAAAAAAAAAA that's so sweet and they fall asleep like that cuddlin and it's really nice

Especially because Maia really needs it too rn (and that might be a big reason Raphael allowed it, internally scolding himself for being selfish bc he was denying _her_ comfort that she _did_ deserve) because she's terrified of losing him like she's lost everyone else....

_Also not sure this counts as angst but MAIA'S SCARS_

I only mentioned this briefly and then kinda forgot about it, but at the very beginning when Maia is pulled into the twilight and the shadow beast has her by the neck, its claws dig in and leave scars much like the ones she has in canon. 

She probably gains a few scars during her time as a hero, but those were her first. (I mean, not first _ever,_ I imagine you probably get a few learning to herd/stop goats and shit like that, but who knows.) They're kind of like... a reminder, much like the chain in her wolf form. They're pretty visible, too (Luke says when he first sees them, horrified, _What happened?_ and Clary fusses over her a little and the other kids are like oh my GOD that's SICK dude and I kinda imagine Colin saying something sweet like _they dont make you any less pretty :)_ and he doesn't even mean it in a crush way he's just a really nice kid?? Also baby trans vibes it's less "i have a crush on you" although he does admire her and more "wow youre pretty i want to be pretty" you know what i mean???) 

But like those scars kinda mark when she was still just an inexperienced farmhand, just a girl from a village who got in too deep, but now she's this badass hero??? I mean she was always pretty badass, and a hero to those kids, but you know what I mean.

Idk bro I can't put it to words I'm just emo about this

**HAHA ANYWAY**

_Magnus... and Maia....brotp....PLEASE_

I don't have much basis here other than "bonds over loving Raphael and being touch starved trans icons" but like..... god let them be friends, please. For me. 

Like just... idk. 

I was trying to think of things to for them to bond over other than "loves Raphael" "trans" "wants affection" and came up with "bow and arrow???" then remembered that's normally Alec's whole thing and got the image of Maia and Malec just like???? at an archery range together for some reason??? Raphael's probably heckling them good naturedly in the background, little to no interest in this. Maia ends up joining him when Alec and Magnus get competitive and it's nice seeing them get to be silly after only knowing them in dark times?? Only seeing Magnus like, three times in person: once helping them out of the castle, once sacrificing himself for Raphael, once a horrible puppet...

But she'd heard about him, you know? Raphael had told her so much about him that she almost felt like she already knew him, and honestly, he was just as kind and smart and silly as he'd made him sound. And she'd like to get to know her boyfriend's adopted older brother :) 

ALSO..... i dont have any particular ideas but i do want to see magnus interacting with wolf maia, too?? really imagining him just walking with this huge ass wolf bc she was in the mood to be a wolf today and like just casually walking with her, telling her about something (idk why but marine biology came to mind??? like maybe he found a book in library he thought she'd be interested in and he's telling her about it??) and they're just strolling in the palace grounds and some people who dont like KNOW maia yet are just like IS ..... IS HE... WALKING WITH A HUGE WOLF???? 

(also again kind of imagining raphael maia magnus cuddle pile and its like "sure, why not, the prince/king is cuddling with a twilight dude and a fucking wolf, why not")

(idk why people wouldn't know the whole story at this point, i guess it might not have spread if they're not like literally in the castle or smth) 

Also, Maia later coming up to him and being like "dude why do all the palace cats love you so much?? they keep talking about you????" and magnus is like THE CATS LIKE ME???? and this is like the best news anyone's ever given him.

He feeds them and pets them and is always super nice to him, of course the cats love him. Amazing. Iconic. We stan. 

_Some Saiaphael E_ _ndgame. just a little. as a treat_

Again I just love totally ordinary dude Simon, a nerd and researcher, meeting and somehow befriending literally like the chosen hero and her friend/eventual partner the prince of twilight, and then like..... they fall in love with him??? And he falls in love back???? And this just happens???

He's just an ordinary dude and like while he is kinda in awe of them it's more in a "wow you guys are both so amazing and pretty?" (again no expectations of like Any Funny Business with raphael as he's asexual but like simon can appreciate that he looks nice without it being weird) then like hero worship "omg the chosen one and a prince" and it's nice, he treats them like people, just like, people he really likes.

Raphael is pretty self deprecating about his appearance ("gross little imp" anyone? ouch) and Simon just ends up blurting out something like "HONESTLY i think youre cute" and Raphael's kinda like.... I'm cursed tho. like literally, i'm literally cursed to look like this. This is some Beauty and the Beast shit albeit with a completely different motivation behind the curse caster. (shut up i know beauty and the beast wouldn't exist in hyrule) and Simon's KINDA like "............youre still cute tho?" but also he kinda gets it you know like.... its not his in the way that Maia can reclaim her wolf form as hers, it's something forced on him. There are a few advantages (riding on Maia's back!!) but generally he'd much rather be himself again....

Also Simon sees Maia's wolf form and instead of freaking out is like OH. MY. GOD. THIS IS THE BEST THING IVE EVER SEEN. ALSO IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO PET A WOLF BUT LIKE, YOU KNOW, WILD ANIMAL. CAN I PET YOU? WAIT IS THAT OFFENSIVE? I DON'T MEAN TO DEMEANING IT'S JUST YOU ARE VERY FLUFFY. 

Maia is happy to nuzzle into his hand and he makes a high pitched noise. (Also the first time he sees Raphael riding on her back he lowkey loses it. Maia offers to let him try, too, but it doesn't really work. She's a big wolf but he's a full sized human. I'm imagining how as a kid I'd try to ride my dog because he was super big but I was too heavy so he just sat down and I slid right off. And he just did that open-mouthed grin dogs do and smugly looked down at me, having fallen on my ass.) 

(Come to think of it does Raphael miss riding around her back when his curse is lifted? Aww..)

SIMON HUGGING HER IN WOLF FORM AND HER TAIL WAGS.

Also Simon is one of the few to actually talk to her normally when she's a wolf even tho she can only really respond with expressions. Raphael and Magnus do it, too, and Alec like, kinda does, but a lot more awkwardly, especially as they rarely talk in wolf form or otherwise.

HEY ALSO DID I MENTION THAT SIMON IS TRANS TOO? FUCK YEAH. 

_just.. More Maiaphael Romance_

I have no strong reasoning for this I guess but I really want Raphael to initiate their first kiss. My reasoning has something to do with Raphael having certain boundaries (as he's asexual--he's sex repulsed but I feel like he would be okay with kissing? It's totally valid not to be but personally I think he would like some kissing, albeit not like Making Out or anything probably) so he can like, sort of decide that??? And also Maia DESERVES TO BE KISSED you know??? I mean kissing people is nice but Being Kissed has a certain energy and Maia deserves it don't you think

I mean after that they could both initiate kisses (god im really just imagining they're cuddling on some adventure or whatever and like Raphael's lying on his back and Maia kinda rolls over so shes by him but like looking down and shes like _can i kiss you?_ and AAAAAAAAAAA) but like, their first kiss could be Raphael kissing her so sweetly??? I mean obviously either asking first or clearly telegraphing intent so she could pull away but she's like, immediately leaning into it.

Also just post canon Maiaphael in general like.... they're finally at peace, no longer constantly on the move, always in danger, always on a new adventure, but even these slower days where they can finally relax it's just... weirdly good?? They can cook together (And Raphael feels like he can cook _properly_ now that he's not annoyingly tiny, although oh my god this just gave me the image of Maia trying to cook AS A WOLF once and it dOES NOT GO WELL but it is very funny and Maia looks VERY cute with like some spice in her fur and like a noodle draped over one ear that keeps flicking in an attempt to get it off) and like, Maia admits she's always been kind of interested in underwater stuff and science you know? So he like tries to find her things she might be interested in (and maybe teams up with Simon for that as he's a Researcher(TM)??) And also now she has the Zora Armor so she can go diving and she like brings Raphael cool shells and rocks she finds sometimes dlfkgjdfdfgfdg

OH MY GOD THEY GO TO THE BEACH TOGETHER LKGJFLGKHFGH Raphael is hilariously grumpy bc while he can move around in the light now that doesn't mean he LIKES it (yes curse broken Raphael can be a daylighter what about it?) so he keeps to the shade mostly but sometimes she likes to pull him out to the sand to show him a washed up jellyfish or a cool crab lfkbjfgfgh (i know it's not quite the same thing as marine biology I just like Maia being interested in all sorts of little things?? And she's never been to the beach before, not a proper beach with sand and waves, so she's just like :D!!!!)

_Twilight Realm Diplomacy :)_

And like Maia visiting the Twilight Realm again but this time it's not on a quest and it's not just like the one little island we see in the game (I presume there's more than literally like two mini dungeon things and the palace) and she's like... wow, your home really is so beautiful??? Because honestly it is and Maia befriending some twili????? AAAAAAA and like also I'm a whore so I'd really like to see Magnus come too sometimes and just get to see this whole other world and they're both really friendly to the twili because like their worlds were taught to hate each other, were each taught the others' ancestors wronged them, but like.... with the help of Magnus and Maia and Raphael they've all really grown past that??? 

So like some of the twili might be kind of surprised the descendant of the royal family who banished them is like... quite sweet, not judging them at all, and like no interest in really.... Banishing them or keeping them contained? idk man I know the twili can't normally survive in the world of the light but we've got some fucking GENIUSES here maybe they figure stuff out and soon enough there are people in both worlds, you know??? Until it's not uncommon to see a twili in Castle Town, soft spoken and drifting like a shadow but sweet, interested in the world of light's people and places and food, and like I'm imagining kids are scared at first and dare each other to go to talk to a twili but then the twili is just like :) 

In the game they're all just kinda sweet and docile even in the cursed form (not Zant's followers but you know) and their design when uncursed reminds me of Naru in Ori and the Blind Forest??? Just soft warm vibes??? Like physically cool (but nice cool, like ur cheek on the cool glass of the window as it rains during a car trip??) but like emotionally warm?? Idk bro

But like Hylians can go see the Twilight Realm too, slowly--like Simon (who, like with the City in the Sky, is sort of like oh my god this is so COOL because even if he's been focused on the City in the Sky for so long that doesn't mean he can't appreciate things like this???? Like holy shit this is so cool) and like........... just,,,,,,,, their worlds getting along now, united instead of apart, with Balance

No more of that "light and dark can't mix" shit that's literally what twilight is you fool! fuck you! 

Also this gives Maia's title "Hero of Twilight" whole new meaning :')) especially as apparently the twili had a prophecy about a hero like her that would save their world ldkfjgldkfjgdlfkjgdlfkjg 

_Worlds Crossing_

but okay RAPHAEL MEETING MAIA'S VILLAGE FRIENDS. _Raphael meeting them._ Like properly meeting them. Raphael talking to Clary (he has distaste for her) and Luke (acceptable) and the kids (I feel bad for not developing anyone but Colin but I can't decide which is better: Raphael immediately taking to the feisty girl I can't remember the name of, Raphael immediately taking to Malo(??) the fucking stoic baby whos somehow the most mature, or this snarky prince guy they've never met pointing at Colin and going "i like that one").

Also.................Maia bringing Raphael (and Magnus, I know I haven't really developed their bond yet but LET ME HAVE THIS) to her village and she's just like hi everyone! so turns out i'm the chosen hero and these are my friends

and everyones like maia. maia is that the prince of hyrule

and shes like maybe

And of course her other friend is a mystical shadow prince who she's also dating now. Of course he is. 

Also Luke hugging her and telling her he's proud of her and of _course_ she's the hero, he always knew she would be great, whether it was in a small way (but no less important!!) or in this mind blowlingly huge way.

And like the kids are like YOU'RE the chosen hero? What the FUCK? That's so COOL

And also pestering both Magnus and Raphael with questions

They probably demand a shadow puppet show lkgjflgkhjfghkljh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa cute AND sad our specialty
> 
> also UGH i wish i could draw i have this very specific image of like the "cover" of this "game" with like link!maia in the middle holding the master sword up like skyward sword cover, magnus to her left with zelda clothes (dress or stylized to harken back to that but not dress?? idk) and like the long thin sword and hand outstretched with magic, raphael to her right with twilight magic in his palm, pale with the green swirly runes on his skin, and then looming ominously in the background above them camille, smirking and red, and like it's very cliche but i can imagine it so vividly and AAAAA WHY CANT I DRAW


	5. me? adding more extras? more likely than you think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im obsessed with this au. obsessed with it yall
> 
> in this chapter: catarina gets a girlfriend and a bff (separately), the resistance, madzie, more malec, and a hint of other things (rosa, meliorn, agitha, and colin, namely)

_Renado as Catarina?_

They have similar calm badass vibes, AND they're both healers. Also I probably need more sh counterparts tbh. I can't do one for everyone, but come on. It ended up being like 90 percent Zelda characters lkjgfghgh

I also wouldn't mind her as Telma but while they have similar warm vibes, the core vibe is different. Telma is like this friendly bartender (and for some reason super busty???) and she's the last Gerudo and she's like, maternal and badass, but also like in that... idk how to explain it, kinda like a friendly Southern waitress who calls you hon (in a tv show mostly lmao)... while also secretly running an underground Resistance and being a badass?

While Catarina fits a lot of that, she doesn't have the friendly older Southern waitress/bartender who calls you hun vibes. WAIT I'VE GOT IT. She's got similar (not the same, but similar) vibes to Guinan from Star Trek: TNG. That, with a mix of friendly DnD bartender woman who's in charge of the adventurer's choice tavern for a reason.

ANYWAY BACK TO RENADO AS CATARINA. I just... small town healer Cat.... Also Renado is who they go to when the Zora prince gets sick but he's specifically skilled at healing multiple species when others doctors aren't??? Sounds like Catarina to me! She goes out of her way to learn how she can heal Zoras and Gorons and all that, too, not just humans and Hylians. 

Although this does not work for Renado's weird discomfort with Telma, which I think was supposed to have something to do with her being kinda Voluptuous And Confident And Outgoing And Flirty or something and it was like why? Anyway if this is Cat genuinely would consider making Cat and Telma gay for each other? I actually love that holy shit. The most obscure actually unironic/not joking rarepair you've literally ever seen: Catarina and Telma from Twilight Princess.

..........Actually, I love that. I really love that. I want to make her Renado _purely_ for that if nothing else. I mean the vibes match anyway but Cat/Telma actually sounds great in a really weird way.

HEY ALSO CATARINA IS TRANS FUCK YOU

_Catarina/Telma_

yep its got its own thing now. Honestly I think Renado/Telma was kind of lightly implied anyway in a very straight sort of way. (Don't quote me on that I just remember thinking it was a thing as a kid. I think maybe she liked him but it wasn't requited?)

Okay look.... I just.... Catarina is a small town healer (he's supposed to also be a shaman but I don't even know where to begin there?) who's got her own daughter (Madzie, babey!!! Renado does have a kid but I grouped her with "the kids in Kakariko" before because she wasn't particularly important) and connections all over. She's the one in charge of communicating with the Gorons (because she's great at keeping calm and doing diplomacy, but also she's like Not To Be Messed With? you know? i mean obviously the Gorons are physically stronger but they lowkey respect her even tho physical strength is kinda their thing) and is someone people look to in times of crisis.

Also okay I gotta balance her being a healer/leader with the town's actual doctor being a different sort. I'm thinking here that Catarina is specifically a healer rather than a doctor--so a focus on magical maladies and cures, potions, healing, but less sciencey. Not because she's not smart enough, in fact she probably understands a lot of that, too, but because she has a talent for magical healing. Magical healing doesn't work for everything, hence the doctor--plus the doctor is an old white guy with huge glasses who's probably the equivalent of an old shitty professor on tenure who hasn't left yet and won't unless he's doing it feet first. 

The doctor is not a great person. He needs to be blackmailed into helping a sick child at one point. So people really come to Catarina for most things, even when it technically leans more towards his specialty. 

But she's not just a healer, she's just like... got that calming presence and she doesn't take anyone's shit. So she's no pushover, a lot like Telma, but rather than the sort of mix of flirtatious audacious bartender (with older people) and maternal warm waitress who would probably give any kid free food and advice (with younger folks) she's more calm and friendly? She's still got some snark, and badassery, but she's more calm, cool, and steady (in a really good way) rather than warm like a fireplace. (I love her so much tbh.) She's a badass, too, mostly with magic I would think (although the image of her also knowing like, for example, a bow and arrow and helping Maia practice when she gets out of the Goron mines with one? Excellent. Very excellent.) but like generally everyone knows not to fuck with her?

Then there's Telma: a bartender who, like I said, comes off as friendly and maternal and flirtatious and confident, like she's a harmless lady who serves drinks and meals or whatever, but she's also secretly leading a whole ass rebellion. She's listening, and watching. We stan.

She's loyal and compassionate, she's willing to help and believe in people like Maia who show kindness, she's quick to comfort but also--she doesn't take _anyone's_ shit. Ever. She's a secret badass--everyone knows she's a badass like, personality/inner strength wise, and that she can verbally kick anyone's ass, but like, do they know she could also beat most of the soldiers/guards in Hyrule Castle with a sword? Perhaps not. (This isn't canon I'm making it up. Honestly everything about this is like, I'm unsure but I'm so ready to explore it. Cat/Telma: unexpected otp.) 

So when they meet they get along _great._ Telma's interested to hear about the healing and her relationship with the Gorons, while Cat is immediately on board with the rebellion.

Also you can't tell me Telma wouldn't love Madzie and be a great second mom to her tbh. I suppose more like an aunt at first (GOD Telma is quality aunt material I want her to be my aunt) but like eventually.... :)

But seriously tho Telma is great with Madzie, who's pretty withdrawn and quiet but Telma is very good with her and like, getting her to come out of her shell just a little because she's comfortable with her, you know??? AAAAAA and Cat is lowkey crushing like not only is she gorgeous and a badass and warm and funny with a great laugh but also Madzie LOVES her which is kind of a big factor because Catarina loves her daughter and will always put her first??

Like idk how to put it to words bro but I'm actually loving Cat/Telma a lot now??? I feel like I'm not expressing this well, like, why I love it, but somehow I just feel like it works. No good reason or logic here. It just... does to me.

_Madzie!!!_

Renado's daughter originally was I think the only kid her age living there before Link's friends/kids came along, and later she admits that while she's glad everything's okay now and they'll be going home, she'll miss them and it'll be quiet without them.

While Madzie doesn't fit personality wise really, it's not like Luda is very important to the plot or particularly memorable, so I'm just gonna....... slide on in there

Madzie being a young orphan the local healer took in, and they have a super loving relationship but she's still so quiet and traumatized (okay tragic idea: this fucks with the timeline of how recently Cat took her in, as I was thinking "much earlier", but consider........ her parents died in Camille's takeover. Hence.... Angst. oh no.... her being terrified of the twilight, maybe even terrified of Raphael, and post canon that's gonna be a doozy) and she's got a lot to learn.

Also the other kids slowly kinda... being her friend?? They know she's kinda quiet and stuff and they don't push it, they know something might have happened to her and don't push it, even tho they can be loud and feisty and insensitive sometimes (see their treatment of Colin sometimes) they're never purposefully malicious or mean to her, and it's great like she's never really had friends her own age before.

In the game Luda gets closest to Beth, the younger girl, but I'm kinda imagining her and Colin having a good relationship, but also the idea of instead of zeroing in on another quiet child she immediately latches onto the loudest one (the one who demanded the wooden sword and was generally loud All The Time) is also funny and sweet.

_The Resistance_

Also okay I forgot that included in Telma's resistance are some characters I haven't talked about yet... but also Luke and Simon's counterparts??? (Also of the five, there's a sixth secret member.... a cat named Louise. No I'm not joking. this is iconic) so like..... NICE

They're generally dedicated to helping Hyrule, and in this case, that means helping Maia. Simon helps her with the Dominion Rod, one of them is the chick with the yeti drawing, one is the one who got Maia a free cannon ride to the desert, etc. They help Maia in various ways (and also she gets to be like LUKE????? YOU'RE?????? A REBEL???) and also I just... Simon, academic rebel. This does put a different light on him learning Maia is the chosen hero, though, I think. Like, he might be like "oh sweet well i'm part of a resistance if you want any help??" and then later Telma who's (and i've gotten the timeline all fucked up don't @ me) like helped Clary with her memory and stuff, is just like "you're the chosen hero? NICE" 

But I don't wanna take away from Simon not treating her and Raphael different for their roles in things, I did kinda like just totally ordinary dude Simon with no role in any of this and just wants to learn about the weird titty birds, having a non-reaction to this huge news. So maybe he joins the Resistance _after_ meeting them, specifically to help? 

(Would also like to clarify I am UNSURE if they are supposed to be specifically like... a general "let's do good things for Hyrule" group turned Proper Resistance with the arrival of Camille, or formed specifically against Camille, but they are NOT anti Magnus. If we go the route of Asmodeous was the king before him, maybe they were anti Asmodeous, but honestly again that kind of sounds too complicated so I'm going to leave it up to interpretation. But they're not against Magnus as a ruler/prince or whatever. We're not even... gonna touch the politics of like is monarchy okay or not, is this a true monarchy in my AU, or whatever, I really don't wanna get into it for my silly fairy tale legend of zelda au so like, whatever.) 

(My good friend @tothetrashwhereibelong says that the idea of them being an activist group turned rebellion is awesome and you know what? It sure is. I've changed my mind, that's the canon I'm going with here.)

_Catarina and Magnus oh my god_

Okay, two ways this could go for me.

One: they've actually known each other for some time. Maybe Magnus traveled around before he was like, the sole ruler of the kingdom, and went to Kakariko and met her and they became friends and at some point she was like hm. so. you're the crown prince and he was like Uhhh. Maybe. trans best friends tbh 

Two: they meet through Telma and the rebellion. I'm assuming Telma could have contacts in the castle, including Alec and/or Magnus. (Actually I like the idea she was like, okay, sweet, I got the head guard's help, that's good, nice and high up, let's go meet hi--that's the crown prince. and Alec's like "you said i could bring a friend")

But like, I mean, even if it might seem unbelievable at first glance, Magnus very fiercely is against Camille (obviously) and wants to help Hyrule however possible, so he ends up being a pretty helpful connection for the Resistance, if a well-kept secret one, but he ends up meeting Catarina through Telma and they hit it off spectacularly. Honestly, Zelda!Magnus really needs more friends, so this is a very good thing.

Either way, Magnus really needs more friends in this AU and they get along _great._ Magnus definitely teases her about her crush on Telma but she gives it back just as good by teasing him about his crush on Alec and they're just trans and queer as fuck together???? It's great. I'm really picturing Magnus gets invited to a Resistance meeting but it's like post canon so at this point it's more just a group of friends drinking and Maia and Raphael are probably there too and it's just like........ Saiaphael, Telma, Cat, and maybe some others (this doesn't fit into the canon characters left but boy am I sure picturing the others to be Meliorn and perhaps Ragnor or Izzy) as well as maybe Alec?? Are just like watching the crown prince get tipsy on wine and go on a long excited ramble (picturing him lying back on Alec's chest, eyes lit up and hands waving as he talks and Alec looking down at the man in his lap like he's the world) about like, his favorite play or magical theory he's got on how to create stable, temporary portals between here and the Twilight Realm, or whatever, and it's probably surreal at first but also just fucking great???

Also Cat and Magnus talking about magic together because they're both nerds and surrounded by a lot of people who aren't that interested in magic (Simon and Raphael are both kinda involved in this conversation but Simon is more *scribbles everything down* this is fascinating! While Raphael just "boredly" interjects something occasionally. Maia's kinda listening because they're interested but magic isn't really her thing, either.) 

ALSO. Magnus being the best uncle to Madzie oh my god.......

_Meliorn...... Meliorn and Izzy?_

Okay, definitely Meliorn. He can be another member of the Resistance. There's no like, Kokiri or anything that really fit (there's the skull kids but... no) so I guess I could... you know this is weird, but I could see him as a Zora? I don't know. Also it'd just be cool if the Resistance wasn't all Hylians/humans. 

Well, anyway, that's neither here nor there, but like, I ujst like the idea that even as a minor character Meliorn's in this ragtag group of rebels.

Also Isabeliorn is iconic and while Izzy has basically not been here, she could be perhaps a knight in Hyrule Castle and Alec isn't here much either but they're still close and all that. Jace doesn't exist, or if he does, he's the completely unrelated cowardly bombmaker. But at least the bombmaker was slightly likable even if kind of a dick. 

_Colin as Bat? Colin as Bat._

I actually do like the idea of Colin as tiny Bat (thank you, @tothetrashwhereibelong, icon) but I'm not sure it's perfect, especially as we've decided Colin is baby trans. Also, while I never particularly shipped Bat/Maia, that is a _thing_ so it does feel kinda weird to make him a kid. For now I think I'm gonna keep referring to him as Colin (and him, as it's way before he discovers how he feels gender-wise, and I'm not sure what pronouns he'd necessarily use anyway even if he def was transfemme--she or they? Both? Even all pronouns, but like, you know how even people who identify with all the gender kinda place more emphasis on the opposite of their AGAB just because it's what they weren't allowed to have? Yeah that. idk) but like I wanted to put that in here.

(Also way post-canon for this AU Colin growing up and realizing they want to go by other pronouns, including she/they, and like, Maia being incredibly supportive?? And his uncle Raphael and uncle Magnus and uncle Simon all being equally supportive with their own advice and helping her come up with a name and like taking her to get new clothes and also Telma and Cat being there to be supportive and like also really imagining Colin and Madzie as good friends and she helps them come up with a name?? God, iconic)

UPDATE: Genius and icon @tothetrashwhereibelong has pointed out that Bat is derived from like, Bartholomew but instead of going with the very str8 man "Bart" (which to be fair COULD be gender neutral but only really in the sense anything can be if you make it) he went with Bat, which is very androgynous and kinda weird (honestly that is so on brand for trans folks) so I guess we're going with nonbinary Bat now!!! I'm thinking they're cool with he/him pronouns but generally prefers she/they? I'm not sure.

But as a kid when the story starts, Bat has no idea, just like feelings they don't really understand about gender and expression? Particularly like, wanting to be a lot like Maia who he really looks up to, not just because she's damn admirable (all the kids do look up to her, even Bat just does More you know?) but also because he kinda wants to emulate her in expression... like, while she's strong and a hero and like some traditionally ""masculine"" things like tough and ready to rumble she is UNDENIABLY feminine and beautiful and like.... she's feminine in the sense that Magnus is masculine, does that make sense? Even when Magnus is at his most GNC, with more ""feminine"" clothing and makeup, he's still undeniably masculine and a man.

So like, that's something that in a way Bat would want to emulate I think, where they look more androgynous and kinda femme but still kinda just... GNC in general? You know? And it's not that they even necessarily mind presenting more masculine or being called he in the way that Maia definitely would mind, it's just, like I said, when you're Between The Genders or Both you tend to lean towards the one you weren't assigned at birth, because you don't want people to assume you're more that just because it's what's on your birth certificate or whatever.

So Bat is like, nonbinary (genderfluid mayhaps? lêx is smort) and likin lots of gender presentations and they've got time and support to like, experiment, you know? 

Anyway I guess Colin is Bat now????

_MORE. MALEC._

I! Am! A Slut! 

I'm just...... really feeling soft for this isolated, lonely, touch starved prince Magnus, trying his best to shoulder the whole kingdom and feeling like he failed because Camille manipulated him, because he let himself care about her and then she used it against him, because he made the best choice he could in a horrible situation. 

And just like... this prince, who goes through so fucking much (sacrificing himself to save someone he thinks of as a little brother, knowing it'll hurt the people he loves and hating himself for it but thinking ultimately everyone will be better off without him..... being abused and manipulated by Camille and blaming himself for it.... her literally controlling and using his body to hurt people he loves................ aaaaaAAAAAAAA) and.. then... there's this guard, a soldier, who's outside his door most nights, maybe hearing muffled sobs or noises from nightmares.

And they become friends, slowly but surely, because Magnus always insists on informality with the people in the castle, and is always kind and anyone working in the castle will tell you that he's a good man, that he's no spoiled royal. He's earned their loyalty a thousand times over, and he's never proven to be not worthy of it (no matter what he thinks) and honestly they all love him.

Alec loves him... more than most. Because Alec like, knows him more personally? Magnus has never treated him as anything less than an equal, and unless there's a specific diplomacy or intimidation thing going on honestly doesn't even look like a prince most days, without his crown and in nice but not that expensive clothes. And like, they're friends. And when the ruler of the kingdom died unexpectedly and Magnus was set to take over (I'm thinking Asmodeous was the king before him and not exactly a good one. Not a cruel tyrant just for the sake of that's too complicated to get into, but like, not great, either. Either that or it was Ragnor or somethinng and Magnus was adopted and perhaps they were expecting blood heirs before he passed but there weren't any so Magnus was unexpectedly given the throne?) it was just... weird? idk. But like they're best friends, and they're close, and Magnus doesn't want him potentially becoming king to change that. Because Alec technically being a soldier/guard (I'm thinking an ex-knight or hero in his own right, but they specifically wanted the best to guard the prince, particularly knowing he had the power of the Triforce) means the power balance could be weird. 

Or hey, maybe the royal family is while influential not the actual governing body and there's like a council or some sort of democracy or something, idk, I don't really want to go into politics I just specifically want to ease any weird power dynamic. Although as we all learned from kinkymagnus's series, sometimes it's not so bad with the "servant" in charge and the prince all tied up wink wink wink wink 

That's a joke, but really, the point is, they're on equal ground. Maybe Alec isn't even a guard in the traditional sense so much as a freelance knight hired by the king/the council/whatever to protect Magnus after an assassination attempt (perhaps an early attempt by Camille at dealing with him that was never traced back to her?) and when Magnus becomes king that's lifted so he's just another knight/noble/hero from another kingdom and free to court Magnus. Actually, I like that. Yeah

idk im not good at politics ANYWAY MORE MALEC FLUFF LET'S GET ON WITH THAT

The POINT is Magnus has been through so much in this AU and he deserves nice things, like friends, warm food, kisses, comfort, hugs, orgasms, and to just be taken care of in general.

So like Alec holding him and letting him be vulnerable when it feels like he can't fall apart anywhere else (he can, he has friends, but like he just feels so relaxed and safe with Alec, you know? He generally has to be "on" all the time, in prince mode, but alone with Alec he can relax and be himself more, can be treated more like a person you know??) and like.... them just _talking??_ Having fun together??? Cuddling??? 

Also this is random but okay while I'm loathe to give Magnus any role involving fashion due to what the fandom has _done_ with that association, Magnus _is_ very good at fashion and loves expressing himself through clothing. So I'm really picturing him and like, Cat and/or Maia, doing some sort of dress up night for the kids? It's partially for Colin, who's still exploring themselves on that front, but also to help Madzie come out of her shell more, and just generally have fun, and Magnus is definitely participating (from letting the kids dress him--which ranges from literally ridiculous outfits that I specifically use to make fun of book!Magnus, to actual earnest attempts--to his own cool outfits like a pretty dress he saw or whatever, partially to get the kids more comfortable choosing what they like and also partially just because he likes it) and like.... Alec being the equivalent of that "straight guy watching his wife try on all kinds of dresses and sighing" except instead of being a straight guy(TM) he's ENRAPTURED hes just like oh my god you look so pretty....... fuck....... and like spinning him around so he can twirl his skirt and then Magnus falls a little into his arms and Alec catches him and makes some sappy joke about him falling for him and the kids all groan but Magnus is looking at him with sparkling eyes,,,,

(Also I said Maia keeps her green tunic, but someone finds a ridiculous hat the same color--the canonical link hat--and has her wear it and everyones like "that's hilarious but it hides ur beautiful hair" yes im throwing shade at the hat i love it but no one would actually look good in it in real life, realistically, and also Maia's hair is too pretty for a hat like that lgkjdfg she deserves better) 

Also idk when the occasion would come up but princes dance in balls and stuff, right? Anyway, the point is, Magnus and Alec dancing in nice clothes?? Alec leading and like spinning him around to make him laugh and dipping him ( _definitely_ while making a sweet or snarky little comment like just flirting with him and Magnus is like you know you already have me, you don't need to chase me or flirt, and alec's like but i love flirting with you?? it makes you smile??? i get to compliment you and say what's on my mind???) and just,,,,,,,, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

AND SPECIFICALLY ALEC DIPPING HIM aaaaaaaaaaaa i love them

_Agitha_

I'mma be real, I didn't do this quest so I don't remember a lot about it, but boy do I have some funny ideas. Agithia is this weird, kinda creepy in a mostly endearing way, little girl who collects bugs. You can bring her bugs and she'll reward you with a bigger wallet at certain milestones.

There are two funny ways this could go, both changing canon for her majorly but who cares.

One: this is somehow Madzie. (The location doesn't fit at all but hear me out.) Just... Madzie loves bugs. And sewing I guess. So when Maia spots a bug she'll catch it for her and bring it back to her and Madzie keeps giving her little crafts in return, including a magical wallet that somehow fits way more than it should. (This could also be the origin of Maia's bottomless inventory if early enough, but I think Raphael's magic handwavey powers serve that function well enough.)

Two: this is Meliorn the resistance member. He's not a small quiet child who loves bugs, but he is a tall quiet nonbinary adult who loves bugs. And Maia brings him bugs she's caught all over the world because he's a nice guy and also he gives pretty decent rewards for them and bugs are kinda cool anyway. (Fun tidbit: maybe Raphael is Not A Huge Fan of Bugs so she's just like "aw look a cool little beetle" and hes like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA). Simon helps. 

WORD FOR WORD, a quote from lêx (on agitha!meliorn) in the comments, because this is hilarious: "udbdudndidm iconic tho. especially if meliorn is all like "let me show you my beautiful pets" and they're just like. roaming wildly and free in their house. and rapha expected them to be in a box or something but NOPE they're just out there in their house buzzing and flying and they don't leave because they love meliorn and rapha is just like AAÁAAAAAAA"

(As for other major side quests, I don't think the Poe Souls thing really works here, so I think I'm gonna ignore it.)

_ROSA?????_

I have literally no idea how to incorporate Rosa but she deserves to be here. 

Like, okay, she's still Raphael's little sister, and a twili--she's not the crown princess, obviously, as Raphael's set to inherit the throne, but she's still technically a danger to Camille's claim to the throne so she's probably... imprisoned? 

If you wanna imitate canon, she might already be gone or isolated from Raphael in some way (maybe she was somehow taken to a safe place in the world of light, her heritage hidden? lmao make her one of the village kids that Maia is close to, now that would be awkward, but he'd recognize her right away so, or maybe she's like dead oh no, i don't know) but I'm not sure that.... works? You could have it be like Camille killed her or Raphael thinks he killed her but that might start pushing the story in a different direction.

She could just be back home in the Twilight Realm (corrupted with the rest of them,,, oh no..... also while I believe it's only Camille's willing followers that Maia actually fights, the rest sitting docile and monstrous looking back in their home, the thought that it could be Rosa and he'd never know always crosses his mind.... oh fuck) but perhaps imprisoned or simply waiting for him to come back..... 

It's all the more reason he's determined to save his kingdom (and!! now he believes that if he dies, and Camille is defeated, Rosa will make a wonderful queen--she's too young right now(?) but perhaps there's a trusted advisor like Ragnor or Meliorn (I know I said Meliorn was a Resistance Zora maybe, but idk... Ragnor works, Magnus needs more twili friends anyway and that also gives Magnus more reason to sacrifice himself for Raphael and the twili--as well as his own people, but still) can help her and he knows that. So while he doesn't want to burden her with that he also thinks she'll be an amazing queen one day?

And it's also another reason he's ashamed to show his face there, both because he "ran" and because he's "an ugly little imp" and he's so scared of what she might think of him, of how she might react to seeing him like this.

Bonus..... she meets him and Maia when they're there.... no idea how it would go but I absolutely want Maia and Rosa to meet???? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> genuinely considering re-doing the second chapter with everything i've added since then but oh my god it would take FOREVER and i probably wouldn't even get one (1) more kudos *sobs* 
> 
> .......................but also
> 
> ~~i think i might even tho it will take so much work and i haven't even Properly Started on the botw malec au (which might actually get some attention when posted lbr) fglkjlfkhj rip~~

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably going to be the longest and most researched in the series as it was also for a friend--and i haven't played twilight princess in ages. so maybe don't expect quite this length from all of the not!fics in this series. 
> 
> I might also add more to this--like maybe some of the raw text of ideas to explain my like, core idea for this more, or feedback from friends if they'd like it grouped with the official au post--not sure yet. but you can subscribe if you wanna see more. (im thinking a chapter with more ACTUAL MAIAPHAEL ROMANCE, maybe saiaphael, magnus and maia brotp, more malec, etc. but imma need time for that. and maybe talkin to friends about it. im still gettin down their dynamic)
> 
> this was for my darling close friend @tothetrashwhereibelong, who actually helped me come up with a lot of it, and i hope you like it!!! <3
> 
> however! it will be a series. i've got at least five more planned. 
> 
> up next: malec, and breath of the wild.


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